Three Houses Saga: White Clouds
by RenegadeBraveheart
Summary: What happens when zombie idol group Franchouchou are sent to the land of Fódlan? Well, watch as Saki spars with Felix & Balthus, Sylvain flirts with Ai, Junko fishes with Flayn, and more to come in this weird as hell mashup. (Blue Lions NewGamePlus Route, which means all students will join before the timeskip)
1. Chapter 1: An Artificial Relic

**Three Houses Saga: a Fire Emblem and Zombie Land Saga Fanfiction**

Third-Person POV

The year is 2018 in the Saga Prefecture of Kyushu, Japan. It's about two weeks after the live concert at Arpino and the members of Franchouchou are taking a much needed break. It seemed as though it would be an actually normal day for the zombie idols, well, until the familiar yelling of their manager outside the mansion disrupts the peace.

"TAE, ROMERO, STOP DIGGING UP THE FRONT YARD!"

All of them quickly move out to the front door, thankfully all of them wearing their makeup and normal clothing, to stop the two from causing a scene out in the open. A dog digging up holes isn't anything new, but a ZOMBIE dog and a zombie girl with the same mannerisms would get some people creeped out.

"I could have easily stopped them ON MY OWN, you supid zombies…" Kotaro Tatsumi ungratefully states, causing their team leader to deliver a hard punch to his gut.

"I'm sorry, care to say that again ya prick?!" Saki Nikaido says as she threatens to give him another one.

"Now now, it's not like he struck you first, although he does deserve that punch..." begins Ai Mizuno calmly as she closes her eyes and crosses her arms. ".. seeing a member of a popular idol group acting this way would cause some speculation by the press, and..."

While she continues lecturing the rest of the group, our favorite egghead Sakura Minamoto notices Tae gnawing on an item she found in the dirt.

"Hey guys?!" she interrupts as she tries to pull whatever is in her friend's mouth out. With help from Lily and Yugiri, the object is free... along with Tae's head. Not saying another word, all of them run quickly inside just before Policeman A could pass by on his morning patrol and immediately fire a bullet into all of them.

As the Legendary Tae Yamada continues chewing on it, they begin discussing the object itself. Besides a few scratches and drool from the constant biting, it looks to be a perfectly preserved staff with some sort of gem lodged into it. The design kind of looks skeletal, like it's an organism's spine.

"It looks really cool!" exclaims Lily Hoshikawa as she observes it closer, "Maybe it's worth a lot of money!" she says while grabbing the staff and waving it around like a magical girl.

"C-careful with that! It might be some type of weapon buried here a long time ago that could hurt people, and maybe zombies!" a slightly worried Junko Konno pleads to the 12 year-old. This causes the youngest member to pout before throwing the staff against the wall.

After hearing Junko say something like that, coupled with Lily throwing the damn thing like a toy prompted Sakura to give a somewhat terrified squeak, the former doing the same.

"Hey if it's a weapon, why not take it out for a spin! Let's have some target practice at a junkyard!" Saki proclaimed with a big grin on her face. "Ooooo, that sounds fun!" Lily once again chimes in.

"I would like to see how powerful such an item could be, yes, let us pleasure ourselves with this mystical rod." Yugiri states with a smile.

Sakura gives a blank expression before speaking, "I'm sorry, but your phrasing still needs some work". The group continues the conversation on whether they should use it or not, while Tatsumi picks up the staff and observes it.

"What do you think we should do with it?" Ai asks him, "For now I'll keep it in my office, AND I DON'T WANT NONE OF YOU STEALING IT!" he yells as the pompous sunglasses-wearing manager snatches the rod and marches toward his room. Though he's stopped by a smug-faced Saki snatching it and making a mad dash outside.

"HEY YOU STUPID-" he shouts at the former Dorami member before getting the door slammed on his face. Picking himself up immediately, he decides to take the van and tells the others to get in. As Tae rushes out the door and into the vehicle, Sakura starts doyansu-ing (repeatedly asking "What do I do?" in a panicked state) before deciding to leave as well, with Yugiri and Lily in tow. Ai gives out a sigh then reluctantly follows, with Junko deciding to leave last, carrying Romero in her arms.

Saki manages to steal a motorcycle from a random dude on the street (who totally forgives her because Number 2 is his favorite member of Franchochou and he can't wait to tell his friends) and speeds off to the aforementioned junkyard. Once she arrives she pulls out the staff, with that big smile still on her face while laughing. She observes it a bit before picking her target, a wrecked car on top of a trash pile. She aims, but nothing happens.

"Damn it, work you piece of crap!"she says while smashing the thing on the ground until it starts glowing red. The gem lodged within the rod is giving off an energy that causes gusts of wind to blow objects away, just in time for Kotaro and the others to show up and get knocked down. Startled by what's happening, Saki drops the weapon on the ground while it's still releasing energy.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" the angry, yet slightly scared manager asked her, but she fails to give an answer as she continues staring into the crimson light, amazed at the power being released. As the idol group tries to hold on for dear life the wind becomes too much for them as one by one they all get caught into a swirling vortex. At the center of it all, the staff opens a gateway to who knows where and it gets sucked in, along with every person (and dog) there. The portal closes leaving nothing but the piles of junk that were there before, but now scattered in different places, along with Kotaro's van which is in the middle of being towed.

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Awakening on a cliffside near a village, the flowerheaded Ai observes her new surroundings. The wind blowing through her hair as she notices her friends (and the guy who hit her with a baguette) are lying there unconscious. She goes to try waking them up starting with the latter since his voice could serve as an alarm clock, until she is suddenly confronted by a group of ruffians. Four of them stood before her reaching for their weapons, presumably knives, as they start circling around the girl.

"Nyeh, hey, this girl's outfit is pretty strange, ya think she's from a foreign land?" one says.

"Probably, nobody in Fódlan wears anything like this, maybe she's a noble too.." mutters another.

The third one chimes in with "How much gold do ya think she's got, 10,000 at least?".

"Hey there cutie, I don't know how you've managed to wander into our territory, but you are not getting out, heh-heh-heh." boasts the leader.

Ai grips her fists, hoping that she's fast enough to disarm them and drive them off, and dashes towards the closest bandit and uppercuts his jaw. The leader stands and watches, stroking his stupid looking beard as she delivers a kick to the second bandit before being restrained by the third. Taking out his rusty dagger and the bearded bandit prepares to strike…..

Until a critical hit slash to the leader's large back causes him to fall over, blood leaking out of his body as the zombie idol breaks free from the bandit's grasps and steps back quickly. She looks upward to see a young man, could maybe be a 20 year-old, with dark teal hair and an iron sword in his right hand. As he cuts down the rest of the bandits, Ai feeling a little frightened at the display of violence before her. Once their bodies had been piled up, the Heisei Idol feels better enough to talk to the stranger.

"Thank you very much for saving me, I can't imagine what they would have done if you had not been here." she starts.

"Glad to see you are relatively unharmed." the young man says in response.

"Yeah, they weren't very strong, but their numbers could have overwhelmed me." says Ai, "Um, do you have a place where me and my friends could possibly stay for a while?" as she looks back at her companions who are starting to awaken.

He turns and points to a nearby village and beckons them to follow. "You're a real lifesaver, but how about telling me your name Mr…" Ai stops so she can hear his answer.

"Byleth, Byleth Eisner."

END OF CHAPTER 1


	2. Chapter 2: The Blade Breaker's Kindness

Third-Person POV

The year is 1180 in the land of Fódlan during the Pegasus Moon. Two months before Jeralt's band of mercenaries depart for the Kingdom of Faerghus for a new assignment. The son of their leader discovers eight individuals and one strange looking dog while on patrol in the surrounding forest. After saving one of them from a small group of bandits, he leads them towards the current village that the mercenary company was staying in. During their walk, the blank, emotionless expression on Byleth's face intimidated Sakura and Junko, while it intrigued Ai who was surveying the area around them. The sky was only slightly cloudy, and the clouds that remained were split as wyvern and pegasus riders raced to test their abilities. For the longest time there was silence, until the biker chick spoke up.

"It's Byleth, right? Yo Byleth, where the hell are we going, and most importantly where the hell are we?" Saki asked while crossing her arms behind her head.

The teal-haired protagonist answered with "We're going to see my father. I assume you all are from a far-off region, so I welcome you to Fódlan." leaving the idols and manager confused.

"Um, could you repeat that please?" responded Junko, with a surprised expression on her face.

"I've never heard of this place before, is it a continent or a country?" wondered Sakura who was trying to piece everything together.

Pretending to be a know-it-all, Kotaro says "DON'T YOU IDIOTS KNOW BASIC GEOGRAPHY?! Everyone knows, um…"

"Fódlan." finishes Byleth.

"YEAH, THIS PLACE! Everyone knows where it is and its history!" continues the loud-mouth.

Unimpressed, as usual, Ai asks him "Then which part of Fódlan are we right now?".

"THAT'S EASY, I'LL EVEN TELL YOU IF WE'RE IN THE EAST OR WEST!"

"Go ahead then Tatsumi, dazzle us with your knowledge." answers Ai, expecting the usual schtick.

"Um… uh….. THAT DOESN'T MATTER RIGHT NOW, WHAT DOES MATTER IS HOW WE'LL GET HOME!" stammers Kotaro.

Byleth, slightly annoyed at all the noise, asks them "Can't you all just take a boat or flying creature to get back?", causing them to make a sudden stop.

"Well… you see…" Sakura begins while a sweat bead rolls down her egg head, then a large man with a beard wearing an orange outfit arrives on his steed.

"Father, I have found these people in the forest about to be robbed blind by bandits." Byleth says, acknowledging him. The older man sighed as he patted his son on the back for a good job well done. Observing all of the visitors, he walks up to each of them, wondering where they came from.

"Oi, big guy, you're his pops? What do they call you?" Saki asks when he walks in front of her.

"Jeralt Eisner, professional mercenary, some call me the Blade Breaker. How about you little lady?" he asks.

Thinking she could probably get away with telling people her real name in a world like this, she responds with "Saki Nikaido, glad to have ya!" gripping her fist with a grin on her face.

The big guy smirks, then asks the rest of them who they are. After introducing themselves as politely as they can, Jeralt and Byleth converse with each other, while the Saga group huddle together to do the same.

"What do we do? What do we do?" doyansus Sakura, prompting Yugiri to share her thoughts.

"Perhaps it is best to stay here until we find our mode of transportation to escort us back to Saga?"

"B-but what if our secret is revealed? There's no telling how the people of this land will react to seeing the undead among them! There may be mythical beasts, yet I doubt they will accept zombies." explains Junko.

"True, but I agree with Yugiri, we need to stay here until we find a way home, maybe sticking with these mercenaries will help us some protection while we look." says Ai.

"I don't trust the blue-haired guy, his face irks me." grumbles Saki.

"We have to trust him, what choice do we have? His skills can help us travel around without getting killed, well… killed again I mean." Ai responds once again.

"I'm scared of what will happen if we're alone, maybe they can train us to use weapons!" Lily suggests loudly, prompting Jeralt to laugh.

"I haven't trained kids in a long time, and you are all lucky that there has been no jobs as of late to take up. Sure, but know that you have to find another place to stay after a while, got it? We can't keep watch on all of you forever, so train until you can manage to fight off ruffians with ease." Byleth nods in agreement.

"Thank you for your kindness, please direct us to where we will be staying tonight Mr. Eisner." requests Ai.

Hours later, they're staying at an inn near the mercenary company. After washing off their makeup (luckily Kotaro has enough to last almost half a year, until they have to get currency to buy more) the girls decide to turn in for the night. With Tatsumi already asleep, Sakura pets Romero as she looks out the window, wondering if it was her bad luck (along with Saki's incompetence) that caused all of this to happen, or if this was the result of someone's meddling.

END OF CHAPTER 2


	3. Chapter 3: Road to Remire

Ai's POV

"_Bullseye." _I thought to myself after my second attempt at hitting the target with my bow was successful. Directly in the center of the target, right next to my first shot, which was a little off the mark. Ready to fire another arrow, I draw back my training bow, take aim and—

"RAH!"

"Gah!" I respond with as the arrow hits the tree behind the target instead. Turning around and sighing, I reluctantly choose not to fire my fourth shot into the sunglasses-wearing idiot's gut for now.

"Ha ha ha ha, nice shot Mizuno, just like hawk-guy!" he says while mocking my attempt.

"It's Hawkeye, and shut up. Where are you off to anyway Tatsumi?" I ask him, "Everyone else is here with Jeralt and Byleth, are you afraid of tearing that nice suit of yours?"

Turning around and walking away he only says that "I'm going to study again. Keep practicing HawkAi." sticking his tongue out at me before disappearing from my sight. Studying, eh? We do need more information on how this new world works, so maybe it could be useful. Although I don't see eye-to-eye with him most of the time, actually all the time, I do admit he's smart enough to plan ahead. I hope whatever he's looking for will help us in the long run, for now I must keep practicing.

"_HawkAi, huh?" _I thought to myself while drawing another arrow and firing. Not as good as my second, but way better than my misfire. It's been two weeks since we've met the two mercenaries helping us. Jeralt, The Blade Breaker, he doesn't look too friendly, but he sometimes grins when he's having a drink with Kotaro, sparring with Saki, who I think is his favorite out of us, and just seeing Lily happy. Though, I'm more interested in his son, The Ashen Demon I've heard people call him, Byleth.

His swordsmanship is remarkable, and he's not too bad at strategy either, giving us good advice when it comes to using our weapons. His face has been getting better at emoting, though he's still very far from not acting like a robot. Also I'm the only one that had actually seen him kill those bandits, so I'm curious on how his mind works. But despite his help, not all of us have been doing well.

Sakura and Junko haven't been doing that great with lance training, and I have been quite fearful whenever I see Tae holding an axe. Lily has been reading up on books on sorcery, which is not surprising because of what we've seen, though she has yet to actually use any spells. Only myself, Saki, and Yugiri have been successful so far with our training. While I do enjoy archery, disarming our manager and swinging that baguette pushed me into trying out blades, and as I suspected, our Legendary Courtesan has some experience in that area. Saki ended up breaking the practice dummies when using those training gauntlets, though she needs to learn where to strike certain opponents. That's what I told her yesterday, but she ended up ignoring me.

While we were still together, we also discussed how our secret could possibly be revealed in Fódlan. We have plenty of makeup, but eventually it will run out, so we have to be careful not to use it excessively. As for our body parts falling apart we have to try our best not to get hurt too badly, or we would have to be inspected and tested by doctors. We may have to reveal our secret in this world, but in order to avoid angry mobs or religious individuals, there needs to be secrecy. Not everyone will trust the undead to not harm anyone, especially with Tae running around.

"_Enough worrying about that, the battlefield is just like a stage…" _I thought before getting another perfect hit on the target, with Sakura and Lily cheering me on, _"... you need to try your best, no matter the fight or the performance."_.

Third-Person POV

Tatsumi returned from the library at night, carrying stacks of books and immediately went up to his room in the inn, only nodding at Lily when she was walking in after watching the stars. Looking through the pages of each book carefully, he gained a lot of important information by the before he decided to sleep. He read up about The Adrestian Empire, The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, The Leicester Alliance, The Church of Seiros, and even The Officers Academy. That was a place that he was most intrigued about, a place where young nobles and commoners could train and learn together to be greater individuals. As he went to bed that night he formulated a plan in his head, not doubting that when they arrive, he needs to enroll Franchouchou. For what reason? Like Tatsumi himself, for now it's a mystery.

As more weeks pass and it is now the Great Tree Moon in Fódlan. Jeralt receives a new job in Kingdom territory and Kotaro demands that he brings him and the girls along in order to gain more experience, which he reluctantly agrees to in order to stop hearing him yell. Most of the girls seem ready enough to have their first mission anyways so it would be beneficial to be in a real battle. All of them depart at dawn, walking cautiously towards their location until they decide to take a break for a few days at Remire Village. As all of them start taking refuge in the area, the girls hope that they won't get into much of skirmish there…

END OF CHAPTER 3


	4. Chapter 4: The Beginning

Byleth's POV

"_Are these girls really ready for fighting?"_ I thought to myself while watching the one with long black hair, Tae I believe, being held down by that Sakura girl. I take a look at the rest of them setting up their tents, it seems they've experienced camping out in the open before at least. It's a bit of a chore looking out for this group, especially since it's my first time training anyone, much less those almost my age. But ever since I had first found them in the forest during the Pegasus Moon I have been growing a slight bond with each of them. The youngest one, Lily, has a smile that could light up a dark room, and I had enjoyed having tea with Ms. Yugiri. Sakura and that timid Junko had finally learned how to handle a lance from my Jeralt, my father, but they still have a long way to go.

"Oi, silent treatment, quit starin' and help!"

As Saki scowls at me I walk over and finish setting up their camp, unfazed by her attempts to intimidate me. While I continue ignoring her I walk over to the short-haired girl, Ai, asking if there's anything else I could help them with. These two and Yugiri seem to be the most capable in a battle, seeing how well they did in sparring matches displayed this well. They were unsuccessful in defeating my father and I, but the potential in their skills were remarkable. Especially Saki with how she landed her blows, they stung for a bit after we finished, still she has yet to see how different some opponents can be with their attack patterns. Hopefully this upcoming job can provide that kind of experience, maybe some fellow grapplers or swordsmen could suffice?

"There, that's good, I'm grateful for your assistance Byleth."

"It's no problem, now all of you should get some rest." I tell Ai after I place the unused firewood into a pile. While walking back to the house I was currently staying in I wave back to the girls, and unbelievably, I gave them a small smile. As I turned in for the night, I continued to think of new ways to train those girls until I decided that I need the rest as well.

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I witness a brutal battle within my dreams, involving a woman dueling with a man using a strange looking sword in the center of the area surrounded by soldiers. They keep clashing blades until the man's sword starts glowing and extending its reach, swinging it around like a whip, almost cutting the woman's stomach. The green-haired woman manages to disarm him of his powerful weapon by allowing it to wrap around her sword and tossing it away. Tackling the large man on the ground, she furiously stabs him multiple times with a knife, killing him as she spouts words about a "Red Canyon" and "Taking everything that she loved". As the soldiers cheer, she holds the strange sword to her face, leaving a mark of blood on her cheek as she continues whispering about her "Mother". Before I have time to contemplate what I saw, immediately afterwards I watch as a young girl, with large green hair, bare feet, and pointed ears awakened from her slumber.

"Oh my, what could have brought you here?" she says after yawning and rubbing her eyes. "It is most rude to interrupt a moment of repose. Very rude indeed. Now come to me. I wish to have a look at you."

I walk forward towards her and she asks my name and birthdate. I simply reply with "Byleth, 20th of the Horsebow Moon 1159."

"Huh, I shall not ever grow accustomed to the sound of human names. And well, wonders never cease! It seems we share our day of birth. How strange!" she replies to my answers. She ponders for a bit before deciding to take another nap, but not before saying that "It is almost…time to...begin…".

"_Begin what?" _I thought before my father wakes me and asks if I've been having these dreams again, to which I describe both to him. He tells me that there hasn't been a battle like what I saw in about three centuries and that he does not recognize a girl with that description before. "The battlefield is no place for idle thoughts." he said to me right before reminding me that we needed to leave at dawn in order to reach the Kingdom. Suddenly one of our mercenaries requested that my father must come outside immediately, it seems as though it's important so I follow him, along with the girls. I realized that the loud man that came with them is nowhere to be seen, yet I chose to ignore that for now and head outside, where I find two young men and a young woman standing there.

"Please forgive our intrusion, we wouldn't bother you were the situation not dire." the blonde boy with a blue cape says, before explaining that the three of them are being pursued by a group of bandits and that they need our support.

"It's true. They attacked us while we were at rest in our camp." the white haired girl wearing a red cape continues.

"We've been separated from our companions and we're outnumbered. They're after our lives… not to mention our gold." he boy with dark hair and yellow cape finished. They're all surprisingly calm considering what they just described to us, but that's not worth thinking about right now.

"Bandits spotted just outside the village! Damn… There are a lot of them." another one of our mercenaries informs us.

"W-wait, we need time to prepare!" a worrisome Sakura says.

"There's no time for that, let's go kick some ass out there!" shouts Saki excitedly.

Then Ai speaks up, "Saki's right, if they're already here, we need to act immediately in order to drive them away from the village.". I give a nod before my father leads all of us towards the open field as we wait with our weapons in hand.

"Let's take care of these thieves before they overrun the village." my father says upon his steed.

We decide to take down the enemies on the frontlines first before all others, as all of us charge towards the swordsmen in the front I notice the looks on the three individuals we just met. They all look determined, ready to take them down without much fear in their eyes, fascinating to say the least. As expected the training done with the girls managed to leave quite the impact, seeing Ai easily firing arrows into the skulls of those bandits along with the tanned boy in yellow, Yugiri slicing them down to my left, and Tae charging and biting opponents before the blonde boy takes them down with a lance.

"H-help me!" Junko yells with fear in her voice, she's got two of them on her back while she's running away. Before I could step in to help, Sakura dashes ahead with her lance out and manages to throw it like a spear into the chest of one of them, her face in shock as it pierced through him. This scares Junko enough to reactively toss hers into the air and conveniently landing on top of the other bandit's head (handle side up) and knocking him out cold. I walk up to Sakura who is left shivering after what she did to save her friend, this must be her first time killing another person, or perhaps killing at all.

"I-I… I had to…. he was going to hurt…" these words came out of her mouth before tears start showing up in her eyes. She sobs as she continues regretting her choice to take his life, and I see that Junko and Lily are doing the same. I remember not feeling anything when I first took down people like that, that has always been the case for me, but for them it hasn't. Ai and Saki glance at the scene, but are interrupted by more enemies before they could respond to it.

"The first time is never easy," says the young man in blue while walking up to her. "I've seen a lot of people perish in front of me and no matter how many times it happens, it's difficult to overcome it," he places his hand on her shoulder, though she still weeps over her actions.

"W-what if he had a family….. what if he needed to steal in order to have a better life?" Sakura tearfully asks.

"I think about that all the time too, but you saved your friend's life, and you're alive as well! Can't you smile knowing that you protected someone you cared about?"

She stops, then continues wiping her tears from her face and sniffling. "T-thank you so much, um…"

"My name is Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. And your name is?"

"... Sakura Minamoto. Thank you Dimitri." giving him a smile, prompting him to give his own.

Noticing the bandit leader getting closer, I immediately run towards Saki and the white-haired girl, since they're in his line of sight. He prepares to drop his axe upon the two of them...until the weapon pierces through my spine as I feel time stand still.

END OF CHAPTER 4


	5. Chapter 5: Welcome to Garreg Mach

Byleth's POV

"You'll die!" the bandit leader yells before bringing his axe down and into my spine, yet when I opened my eyes I find myself once again with the small girl from my dreams.

"Honestly! What are you accomplishing with that little stunt?! It's like you're trying to get me killed you fool!" she says complaining about my sacrifice. She sighs before she offers her guidance to me and finally reveals her identity.

"You can call me Sothis, but I'm also known as 'The Beginning'." She thinks for a few seconds about how she couldn't remember her name until now. After being insulted that I thought of her as a child, she judged me for throwing my life (and her life?) away by trying to save those two girls. I thank her for managing to stop the flow of time before I could perish and ask if she could turn back the hands of time to before I could be killed. She can, not by too far, but enough to save me at least.

"Now go… Yes, you who bears the flames within. Drift through the flow of time to find the answers that you seek…" she says before reversing time to when the bandit leader started charging towards Saki and the other girl.

"You'll die!" he repeats before I run in and knock him off his feet, his axe landing in front of his men.

"Hey—over here!" The young man with the small yellow cape yells before him and the others arrive with him.

"I could have handled him, but wow, you sent him flying!" proclaims Saki right behind me. A group of knights led by a mustachioed man in armor suddenly appear and start chasing the thieves out of the village.

"Oof, it's over..." Lily says tiredly while the aforementioned mustachioed man runs up to my father with genuine surprise.

"Captain Jeralt?! It is you! Goodness, it's been ages. Don't you recognize me? It's Alois! Your old right-hand man!" speaking up with a smile on his face. Annoyed by his presence, "Captain" Jeralt bids him farewell before Alois insists that he comes back with him to the monastery.

"Garreg Mach Monastery… I suppose this was inevitable."

"Garreg Mach… Monastery?" Junko asks curiously.

Alois replies with "Wait, you haven't heard of it, then why don't you all come with me? You'll join me, won't you?"

"Even I wouldn't dare run from the Knights of Seiros…" my father says before following Alois, prompting me to follow him.

"The Knights of Seiros… They do seem rather skilled." I hear causing me to look around to see who it was.

"Are you feeling ill young Mr. Eisner? What did you hear?" Yugiri asks me before I hear the voice again.

"Ah. It seems your presence is required. Get going!", I then realize that the voice is that Sothis girl and start moving towards the three young individuals who arrived earlier. They start discussing with me about my father, then asks if I'm coming to the monastery as well, introducing themselves as Claude (tanned young man with the small yellow cape), Dimitri (the blonde who helped Sakura), and Edelgard (the young woman who I saved along with Saki).

"Oh I should mention that the three of us are students of the Officers Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery." Claude says before the other two start bickering with him, due to how he chose to "make a strategic retreat" causing the other two to follow him. All of those bandits chasing after the three of them… "_What a strange plan"_ I thought when he explained himself. They then continued bickering about if they would be good rulers or not.

"In any case, forgive our digression. I must speak with you, if you can spare a moment." Dimitri says before complimenting my skills on the battlefield.

"You girls held your own out there as well! Well, as best as you could when being placed in a situation like that for the first time." Claude says to the seven of them.

"Uh, thanks I guess." Ai responds while the others continued resting, though I couldn't blame them. I believe both Sakura and Junko are still shaken up badly, despite Dimitri's help, so I'll be sure to check on them later.

Edelgard requests that we should join the Adrestian Empire so that we can lend them our strength, causing Dimitri to make the same request for the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and Claude revealing that he was going to try bonding with me before asking such things.

Before I could share which option sounds the most appealing to me, Lily starts tugging on my jacket, "Um... Byleth, what are they talking about?".

"Fódlan is split up into three parts, the Adrestian Empire, Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the Leicester Alliance. And at the center of them all is Garreg Mach Monastery, home of the Central Church of Seiros and the Officers Academy." reveals the loud man with darkened glasses walking up to us, "And that is where you girls will be enrolling for the time being."

"WHAT?!" the group replies while myself and the other students watch this argument go on.

"We've just heard about this school a moment ago, and you're telling us that we're staying there? First off, how do you plan on doing that? And secondly, for what reason do you need us to be students there?" says Ai as she demands the tall man to answer.

Not intimidated, he proudly proclaims "After nights of research I have concluded that this place could help with our survival in this land. With the training you could receive there, you would be able to take on any battle, and be fearless to shine on any stage! We could enroll all seven of you as commoners, and as for the funds…. I have sold half your makeup supply.", making them all gang up on the man and beating him down.

"_Why do they need so much makeup? And what kind of makeup is worth that much gold?" _Those questions appeared in my head as I stood there, puzzled along with the other three students before Alois calls for us to head to the monastery. That man, Kotaro Tatsumi… what is he planning? I observe the three students once more, Dimitri, tempted to run in and help the man, Claude having this grin on his face like he was watching an onstage comedy routine, and Edelgard with this exasperated look as she turns and walks away. I soon turn and follow them as the girls notice and run after us, leaving Tatsumi in the dust.

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Sakura's POV

"This will be your first time at the monastery, I'd be happy to show you around." Dimitri offers while we walk through the forest.

"It really is Fódlan in a nutshell, the good and the bad." says… Claude? Is that who he is?

Then, um, Edelgard lets us know that "Like it or not, we'll be there soon enough.", as we soon see HUGE open walls in a path leading to what looks like a castle! It looks so pretty, though the walk there is exhausting… I felt like my legs were going to fall off, so I took a short rest before moving again, wouldn't want to reveal our secret when we're close to a holy place like this. We continue up to the main gate and walked through the area with shopkeepers selling things like weapons or potions (or vulneraries as I learned while picking one up).

"Oi, Sakura!" Saki yells, telling me to catch up with them. As I run up the stairs I trip on the last one and slide all the way back down. Ow…

"Hey Ms., are you okay?" A student with red hair asks me while pulling me off the ground.

"Yeah I'm okay, thank you!" I reply with gratitude.

"Well then, I'm glad, you look like you really hurt yourself, do you need me to carry you to the infirmary? We could talk about ourselves so we could get your mind off the pai—" he gets cut off by a blonde girl with braids pulling his ear, dragging him away.

"I'm so sorry for the trouble! My friend's a bit of… a skirt chaser." She says while she takes him away, leaving me to question what I just saw. I snap out of it when Saki speaks up again, though she's slightly annoyed at that guy for flirting with me. I assure her that it's alright and continue down the entrance hall, following Byleth and Jeralt to a large open room. I hear them talking about how the latter used to be a "Captain" and how there's an "archbishop" then two important-looking people show up.

"Thank you for your patience Jeralt. My name is Seteth. I am an advisor to the archbishop." says the scary man with long green hair and a goatee.

"Right. Hello." Jeralt answers.

Then the beautiful lady next to him starts conversing with Jeralt and Byleth, thanking them for saving the students. I think she's that archbishop mentioned earlier, Lady Rhea? Tatsumi then bows to her, asking if we could join as students, she is mildly surprised at the offer until he does that weird look into her eyes thing. It surprisingly works! She agrees to allow us to attend and tells Seteth to help us with enrolling and paying for it. Seteth gives Tatsumi a mean look before taking him to his office. I don't know if this will end well, so I quickly follow him alongside the others.

"Bye bye!" Lily says to Lady Rhea joyfully waving to her.

The green-haired lady waves back to us before walking to her office, leaving Byleth and Jeralt there alone. I'm hoping my luck doesn't affect our stay here at the academy, I wouldn't want to fail at getting into another good school again.

END OF CHAPTER 5


	6. Chapter 6: The Deer and The Eagles

Sakura's POV

Seteth hasn't stopped looking at both us and Kotaro, he's definitely suspicious about us. Even while finishing up our enrollment applications, sweat drops wouldn't stop falling down my head, he's just so intimidating.

"Your enrollment into the academy is complete, I will now guide you to your new rooms." Seteth told us while standing up. We followed him all the way to the dormitory, we see a bunch of students roaming around on the way there. A green-haired student yawned while passing us by in the hall, while giving us a quick, uninterested look before making his way to the library. We see a girl with light blue hair, who looks like she hasn't slept in months walk by with her head down.

"Out of my way." said a student with dark blue hair and an icy stare.

"Eep!" I responded, trying to get away from that jerk. _"Thank goodness he didn't draw his sword." _I thought to myself before we finally made it to our destination. Seteth showed us where we would be staying, but there was a catch.

"Sadly there are only six open rooms this year, so two of you will be forced to share one. Be sure to discuss this among yourselves, and here are your uniforms." he explained after handing us our clothes.

"W-wait…" Junko tried to say, but Seteth was already on his way back to his office.

"Tch, what's up his ass?"

"Not now Saki, we have to see which of us are sharing rooms." Ai told her as she crossed her arms. "Someone has to keep an eye on Tae, so she's got to stay in the same room as another person."

"I'll do it! I've been helping her for a long while, so maybe she'll be calmer around me." I suggested and some of the others agreed with that.

"That is true. Sakura is usually the first to prevent Tae from any trouble she gets into." Yugiri said.

"Regardless, I think you deserve a break, remember what happened back in Remire Village?"

Ai's sudden question made me go still, "Y-yeah, I do…still, I can get over it if I can focus on this responsibility, as well as our school work!" I replied, trying to ensure them that I would be alright with a small smile.

"Sakura, it scared me too, but it seems that you're still traumatized." said Junko as she shuddered, remembering the battle.

"That's why I'll keep an eye on her. I don't think you or the others can handle this job easily. Especially in a world like this where there might be a lot of dangerous people." Ai told me.

"Are you sure? She's still quite a handful. And you have to make sure she won't hurt herself or any of our classmates…" I informed her.

"I'll be alright, so are there no objections?" everyone nodded, though I now realize that Kotaro is gone now, probably off doing more research.

"Then it's agreed. You all will stay in separate rooms, while me and Tae will split a single one. Now let's get some rest, shall we? We need to choose our house tomorrow, which means we have to go to the classrooms and meet our fellow students." Ai reminded us.

"I hope they're all nice, unlike the guy we saw earlier. He was rude." Lily responds while pouting.

"I'm nervous, I hope we'll give off a good impression."

"Don't worry Ms. Junko, in time they will learn more about us and maybe new bonds form between us all." Yugiri reassured her as I then start frantically looking around: Tae's gone.

"And if any of them start trouble like that asshole from before, I'll take care of it!" Saki says while gripping her fist.

"Please don't cause any unnecessary conflict, like Junko said, we need to make a good impression." lectures Ai as she and Saki begin to intensely converse. I opened my mouth to speak but then…

"P-PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! AAAAAAHHHHH!"

We turned around to see that a girl with purple hair was holding a cake, while Tae was chasing her in a circle. We quickly ran to try and restrain Tae, who was now eating the rest of the girl's shortcake. She quickly got back on her feet while we continued to hold down our hungry zombie.

"I'm so sorry for our friend!" I told the scared girl.

"No it's completely my fault! I never should have left my room for a snack! I'll get out of your way, goodbye!" she said running back into her room and shutting the door, hearing her lock it.

I sigh, before beginning to lecture Tae on why it's not nice to take other people's sweets, no matter how good they looked. We decided to go to the dining hall so both her and the rest of us could get a good meal… AND THE FOOD TASTED GREAT! The types of flavors that were in our mouths differed so much from Japan, we just had to get seconds! And no wonder Tae went immediately chasing after that girl, the cake here is sooooo delicious!

"Wow! It looks like I've got some competition, you girls can really eat! I'd love to see how good you are at training too!" says a big burly man with a shirt that looks to almost burst open because of how big he is.

"Um, thank you!" I say after swallowing my food, "Everything here tastes so good, is it always like this?".

"Yup! There's a lot of good dishes here, too many to even name! You're all new students aren't you? Well, I can't wait to eat with you guys more often! The name's Raphael Kirsten." he says to us before chowing down on his plate of meat. We all introduced ourselves and then continued eating as well. After we were pretty full we all went back to our rooms, saying goodnight to each other before heading to bed. Today was pretty exciting, looking around the monastery, deciding which rooms to stay in, eating amazing Fódlan cuisine… I can't wait to see what else the academy has to offer! I think spending time here helped me feel more calm than what we first experienced in this world, though I did like spending time with Jeralt and Byleth. Wait, why were they here? I think Jeralt might have gone back into being a captain like that Alois guy said, but why do they need his son? Do they need another mercenary? I brush of the question and think about what's more important.

"_I need to make a good impression with my classmates. A lot of them are nobles, so it would be improper of me to not have manners."_ I told myself before resting my head on my pillow. Tomorrow's the big day, class is in session!

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Makeup is on. I'm dressed in my uniform. I tighten my bow. I'm ready. I walk out of my room with the sun shining on my face. I run out the door, but suddenly stop, looking both ways to see if there's anything approaching. After making sure there's nothing I make a run towards our group. Everyone's in their uniform, though with me and Ai wearing our original outfit's bows and Saki tying her long sleeved shirt to her waist. We walk all the way to where the rest of the classrooms are, all symbolized by the colors near their doors.

Then a familiar face walks up to us, "Hiya Byleth! Are you attending the academy too?" Lily said to him.

"You could say that, though I've already managed to select my house and speak to the students of each one. I'm off to report which one I'm joining to Lady Rhea. Good luck to you all." He says before patting Lily on the head and walking away.

Ai, makes a thinking pose before saying, "He's managed to meet everyone and choose so quickly? He's so productive…"

"Yeah, hope he manages to pick my house, how about you girls?"

We turned around to see Claude, grinning while leaning against a pillar. "I guess you haven't met everyone yet so you're undecided, right? I hope none of my companions are any trouble, though steer clear of the purple-haired snob, he's always on my back about something."

As we walk into the Golden Deer classroom, we see a bunch of students talking to each other.

"Ah, you must be the new students!", this must be that snob, "I am Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, pleased to make your acquaintance. Although you do not look to be…" he takes a quick look at Saki, "... of noble status, how unfortunate."

Annoyed, she walked up to him and got in his face, "Huh?! Unfortunate? What do you mean by that ya prick?! Are we not good enough to be in the same class as you fancy nobles?!"

"Ugh, quite the irritable young woman aren't you?" he scoffs at us, "I just simply stated that your looks are not of the same quality of those from the nobili—tyyyy!" he gets interrupted when Saki grabs his collar.

"You looking to brawl, pretty boy? Or are you too scared to have that dumb hairdo messed up?"

"Give it a rest Saki, Claude told us to stay away from him anyways." Ai pipes up to stop a fight from breaking out, making me sigh in relief.

"Hmph, listening to that sad excuse for a leader will get you nowhere." Lorenz grumbles before brushing himself off and walking away.

"Sorry for the bad first impression on his part, though it would have been entertaining to see him get his comeuppance!" the girl with long pink twintails said, "I'm Hilda Valentine Goneril, and this girl here is…"

"M-Marianne, Marianne von Edmund.", it was the light-blue-haired girl from earlier! She still looks like she needs sleep. We introduced ourselves and met the rest of the class: there was Lysithea, who looks young compared to the students, but still older than Lily, Ignatz who's pretty friendly, though he does seem a bit insecure, Raphael who we saw in the dining hall before, and this girl with short red hair called Leonie who told us that she saw all of us with Jeralt earlier and informed us that he was his "first and greatest apprentice". She seems nice, but I kinda think she's a bit obnoxious with how she said that. We said goodbye for now and moved on to the Black Eagles, though I'm confused on the name since they use a lot of red.

"Good morning! We're the new students!" I called out joyfully, hoping to make a better first impression than the last class.

"Hey there! Welcome to the class! The name's Caspar!" a kinda short light-blue-haired student responded.

"Linhardt, goodbye." said the green haired guy with sleepy eyes rudely, that I recognize when we were leaving Seteth's office.

"Excuse me?" Ai replied,

"Jeez man, how did you get into the academy with manners like that?" Caspar told him.

Uninterested, Linhardt said "I could say the same thing with your eating habits and tendency to fight people." As the two continued arguing, a tall, scary looking man with dark hair appeared behind us.

"Well well, it seems we may be joined by some new companions soon…" he said with a creepy smile, sending shivers down our spines and causing Lily to flinch.

Another student steps in, "Please, Hubert try not to scare the poor girls away from our class!" wow, he looks more noble-like than the snob from earlier! "Excuse Edelgard's vassal for his rudeness, allow me to introduce myself…" he begins as he flips his orange hair out of his face. "I am Ferdinand von Aegir (*ding*), pleased to meet you my dear ladies!" he finishes while bowing towards us.

"I am called Petra. I, um, feel joy to have met you!" she doesn't look like she's from Fódlan, especially with that long violet braid and small violet mark under her right eye. We then see that same purple girl from yesterday shivering in the corner, probably still scared of Tae.

"Bernadetta, this type of behavior from a noble isn't ideal, we must be polite to individuals we are looking to bond with!" Ferdinand told her, "Sorry, no thank you, I'm fine right here!" she answered, making him sigh. "My apologies for the behaviors of some of my companions." he said glaring at Hubert who simply ignored him.

"Oh lighten up Ferdie, I'm sure they don't mind. I'm Dorothea, though you may have heard of me, I'm from an opera company in the Empire capital." After once again introducing ourselves we head out of the classroom and up to the last class. I really hope that the Blue Lions are as nice as Dimitri was! Just one more meeting and we'll make our decision, I can't wait!

END OF CHAPTER 6

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x1


	7. Chapter 7: Class is in Session

Third-Person POV

The girls walk into the Blue Lions classroom, only to be approached by a certain redhead from before.

"Hello there my dear ladies! And hey, you're that clumsy girl from yesterday, nice to see you again!" he greets them with a wink causing Ai to roll her eyes (or roll her Ais!), Saki to growl at him, and a sweat drop to roll down Sakura's egg head as she addresses the flirt once more.

"Ha ha… nice to meet you, um…"

"I'm Sylvain Jose Gautier, how about you all join me at the dining hall later? You look to be quite the interesting group of ladies, if I do say so mys—ELF OW!" once again he is stopped by the blonde girl with braids punching him in the arm.

"Please be less troublesome Sylvain, they're uncomfortable. Oh, and you can call me Ingrid! It's a pleasure to have you all here." she bows before dragging Sylvain away to have another lecturing. A freckled young man with silver hair and a tall brown-skinned man with white hair approach the idols next.

"You must be the young women who helped His Highness when he was separated from us! My name is Ashe, and this is Dedue, he's Prince Dimitri's retainer."

"Words cannot express my gratitude for your assistance, I will not hesitate to repay your kindness with my strength if you require it. Just like the mercenary who just came by earlier."

"You're welcome, and it was an honor fighting alongside the prince against those bandits. I assume you're referring to Byleth, he and his father Jeralt helped train us in combat." Ai responds bowing politely towards them. Then the serious young man with dark messy hair in a bun from the previous day walked around and examined the girls.

"Hmph, it's a shame that you don't look as skilled as he appeared to be. To think that the Boar Prince needed the help of girls without combat experience is laughable…"

"Huh, what was that?!" Saki, once again prepared to threaten another noble, clenched her fist, yet the swordsman was unfazed. He only scoffed at the threat, turning his back away from her while the rest of Franchouchou were prepared to grab their biker friend in case it got rough.

"Felix! There's no need to be mean to the new students just because they don't look like a challenge to you!" said the short girl with orange hair in looped pigtails, "Oh, I still need to introduce myself. I'm Annette!"

The girl next to her with long hair in a ponytail towards her left side walks in between Saki and Felix, "Annie's right, you need to be less rude to our guests." she turns to face the group and smiles, "You may call me Mercedes, I would love to have a cup of tea with all of you."

"That sounds lovely Lady Mercedes, I will happily accept your invitation." Yugiri states returning a smile as well.

"Tch, well if you're looking for a sparring session blondie, see me at the training grounds." Felix says walking away, causing Saki to yell out "I'll happily accept YOUR invitation to kick your ass, ya dick!"

For the last time the girls introduced themselves, though Saki was still quite annoyed while doing it, and reported back to Seteth. After some thought put into it on their way to the office, they felt that the Blue Lions House, despite two individuals causing a scene, was a good fit for them. They make their decision to join with Seteth and Kotaro's approval and head back into the classroom to wait for their new professor. Felix and Saki continued their scowling at each other while their classmates tried to calm them down. Having learned that Annette and Mercedes went to a school of sorcery, Lily asks the two of them to tutor her in faith and reason magic, which they happily accepted since who could say no to her? Dimitri arrives just as Ingrid decides to share some stories that she witnessed while looking after her friend.

"Wait, he hit on your grandmother?!" Sakura asked while surprised.

"Oh come on! I was eight and she was gorgeou—That was a long time ago." Sylvain claimed, trying to prevent the girls from laughing at or resenting him

"And when he was ten, we went to a harvest festival and he started making eyes at a scarecrow!" Ingrid continued, making Junko and Lily giggle and Sylvain cover his face with one hand.

"Ah I see you're all getting along well," Dimitri starts before he turns and sees the staredown between the biker chick and swordsman. "Well, at least you're all coexisting just fine, regardless I am glad that you girls chose the Blue Lions!"

Sakura gave him a big smile and proceeded to compliment them, "Yeah! You guys seem so cool and heroic compared to the others! We're bound to learn a lot from you!"

Tae just sat there eating a Pheasant Roast with Berry Sauce while Dedue looked on, confused by her strange behavior. Then the doors open to reveal their brand new professor as everyone sat up and looked towards the front of the classroom.

"Hello there, my name is Byleth, but you may call me Professor if you prefer that."

Ai walked up to him making a thinking pose, "Professor? I would have thought you would be working as a mercenary here, or a student like us, how unexpected."

"Indeed but regardless, it's good to see you all again. Though fifteen students does sound troublesome from the get-go…" the teal-haired young man replied to her.

Annette, shocked by this reveal starts speaking to him,"I can't believe it! I was speaking to you so casually, as though we were companions! I just thought that since you looked to be the same age as the rest of us… oh I'm sorry!"

"I don't mind if you treat me as if I were a friend, I'm already used to training others, yet casually conversing with them. That's how I spent the last few months with these girls after all." Byleth assures her.

"Still, we wish to show you due respect." Dimitri chimes in.

"If the Professor says it's okay, shouldn't that be enough? We already speak to our future king like this, so why not do the same with our professor? Sylvain asks His Highness.

"Well, since we're not in the kingdom, we should all try to speak more companionably." Dimitri sighs before accepting that it's alright. Felix then approaches Byleth, looking to issue a challenge.

"Come to the training ground later. There, you will show me what you're capable of. I already challenged her…" he points his thumb at Saki, prompting her to growl his direction, "... but I'm much more interested in skills like yours."

"Ha, I'm pretty sure I can take you down with one blow jackass, how about an all out brawl?!" the Dorami member suggests.

"You're not wasting any time are you? As it were, count me in for any such battle." Dimitri accepts.

"Pardon me, but I would also love to observe you in battle, for future reference if that's okay…"

"Ashe, was it? Taking part in the battle itself could potentially be more beneficial than just watching. Perhaps I'll test myself and learn about all your styles… anyone else?" Ai asks as she rotates her arm and stretches.

"I'll just cheer you all on!" Lily exclaims.

"If I can improve, I'll try my best!" says Sakura trying to hype herself up.

Junko, not looking for a fight says, "Um… I'll just sit this one out and watch."

"If you get hurt, I'll patch you up straight away!" Mercedes tells the combatants with Yugiri agreeing to do the same. Dedue then warns Dimitri not to go overboard, but the latter ensures him that he'll be fine. Sylvain questions having a battle to bond with each other, while Ingrid decides to leave him behind while they go there. Byleth realizes that the liveliness in this class is clear to see, but Dimitri ensures him of their great ability.

"You'll find none that work harder," he says, "I'm certain we'll cause our fair share of trouble, but I'm very much looking forward to the year ahead."

Unbeknownst to them, Kotaro Tatsumi was watching the students and their camaraderie. He hides behind a pillar when they finish up talking and head to the training ground for their "bonding session". After making sure there's nobody around he makes his way towards the library. He asks the librarian, Tomas, on books about ancient weapons and is lead to a large bookcase filled with them. He carefully looks through one, then the next, and the next, yet he can't find the specific weapon he's looking for. Just what was that mysterious staff that sent him and the zombie idols to Fódlan?

END OF CHAPTER 7

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x1 (no change)


	8. Chapter 8: Let the Lesson Begin

Ai's POV

The same mercenary that aided and trained us, Byleth Eisner, is the new professor of the Blue Lions. He stands in the middle of all the combatants, holding his wooden training sword stoically as I grip mine intensely. To my left, Sakura is attempting to calm herself before almost dropping her lance. Meanwhile to my right is our house leader, Prince Dimitri, who is looking confident yet is unsure if his skills match our professor's. Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dedue look over the entire group, while Saki continues to trash-talk Felix, who remains focused. Our teal-haired teacher begins to speak up as we continue staying in our battle-ready positions with our wooden training weapons.

"The last person standing is the winner. If you take too many hits or if you are knocked off your feet, you are eliminated. You are also allowed to yield if you feel the need to retreat. This is also practice for an upcoming mock battle between the three houses, so be sure to learn from this. Now everyone, get ready… " We all tense up, waiting for his signal. "Let the lesson begin!" he shouts while we all clash with each other.

My first opponent is Ingrid, her lance and my sword are in a power struggle causing the both of us to sweat, trying to take control. Sakura started slapping her face so she could gain focus on this large scale competition and headed for Ashe. The latter looked to be unsure of who to go for, which allowed for Sakura to deal in a blow with her wood lance. Continuing from my fight, we have a back and forth where we swing our weapons and dodge attacks consecutively until we got interrupted by Saki and Felix.

"Quit running and let me hit that face of yours!" She yells while Felix ducks under one of her punches. She lands a kick to the gut which causes Felix to stagger, but stay standing and swings his sword into Saki's hip. Sakura manages to eliminate Ashe and apologizes for the small bump on the side of his head.

"It's fine really, good luck out there! Ow…" he gives her a small grin before he clutches the bump and walks over to where Mercedes,Yugiri, and Junko are. Dedue is my next foe, his stature is intimidating to say the least, but regardless I deal one blow on him to his shoulder. I look to my right to see Ingrid overpowering Sakura before Saki rushes in and eliminates the former.

"Careful not to crack that eggshell of a head!" She tells her before running off to find Felix, who's battling Dimitri. Sakura then sighs before Sylvain accidentally bumps into her after being pushed back from blocking an attack from Byleth and falls on top of her.

"Gah, sorry about that, how about I make it up to you by buying you something in town." he says before Ingrid throws a training sword at him.

"_Would have done the same thing…" _I thought to myself as I parry another hit from Dedue and hit him once more, yet he remains unmoved. I look around and see only six of us remain, myself, Saki, Dimitri, Felix, Dedue, and Byleth, what a melee this has been so far. Our classmates are almost more skilled as we were, so we could learn quite a bit by studying together. I decide to face our house leader head-on, as I slash at Dimitri and he dodges. He jabs his lance forward and I move to his left, swinging the opposite way as my sword collides with his hip.

"Impressive, as I expected after hearing our professor trained you girls." He tells me.

Flattered, I compliment back "Your skills are far more impressive Your Highness, where does that power come from?".

"I have undergone quite an excruciating training regimen since I was young, so my strength is…. Well it's enough to shatter weapons as a child, though I also have my crest which sometimes doubles the amount of power I have." he answers, while parrying one of my hits.

"_Crest?"_ that word lingers in my head before deciding to try one last time to take Dimitri down. I then see a small smile on his face before he counters my attack and knocked me to the ground. Like I told him, he's heads-and-shoulders above our current levels. He offers a hand to me and I willingly grab it, standing straight back up as I walk over to the sidelines next to Lily.

"You did great Ai! Almost in the top five!" She cheers as I give her a small smile and pat her head.

"Yeah, but now I know I have a long way to go." I say while turning my attention to Saki, who's managed to take down Dedue with two blows and a flying kick.

"Hah! Bring it on you three, I've beaten dozens of punks in rumbles before!" she boasts before dodging Felix's sword.

"If you'd learned how to stop being so loud, then I would be more impressed. I'll just strike you down quickly before taking down the professor and that Boar." his second swing manages to land before he sticks his sword out towards Saki's neck.

"Tch… HAAA!" she yells jumping away from him and throwing a strong punch towards his face.

He ducks, aims for her legs, and sweeps both of them causing her to fall to the ground."Hmph, too slow." he states as he looks down on her, prompting her to try and rush at him, before I drag her over to the elimination corner.

"YOU FREAKING–" she starts cursing him out while I block both my ears and continue watching the three remaining fighters. Compared to the rest of the class, it seems like they're at the top of the mountain, which means improvement is necessary in order to keep up. It's just like the idol business, we have to continue getting better if we want to be on top.

"Wow, they're really going at it…" Junko, amazed at what we're witnessing tells us.

"Indeed, we'll definitely need more training as the year goes on…", Ashe agrees observing them,

"There's also going to be a mock battle soon, probably to prepare us for the Battle of the Eagle and Lion during the Wyvern Moon…"

"Battle of the Eagle and Lion?" I ask him.

Dedue steps in to inform us, "It's a large mock battle between the three houses named after the battle where the Kingdom of Faerghus split off from the Adrestian Empire many years ago. It's a great showcase of what each class had learned over the course of the year." As Byleth manages to outmaneuver Felix and eliminate him, Saki laughs at him while he grumbles to himself, sitting in the middle of Ingrid and Sylvain.

"Well at least you got to challenge him, right?" Sylvain attempts to cheer up his friend.

Annoyed, Felix rolls his eyes and tells him, "Shut up, if it were a one on one sparring session it would have been evenly matched." Ingrid shakes her head, embarrassed at her childhood friends. We look as Byleth and Dimitri continue to clash, neither one of them are letting up as the battle nears its end. Our classmates cheered them on, though none of us knew who was going to win. We finally witness the two of them in a power struggle, sword vs lance, where it continues to look even until something unexpected happens. One of Byleth's hands starts glowing and it allows him to take control and overpower Dimitri, incredible!

"Hm, it seems as though I am the winner. You all did well today, and I look forward to the coming year. You are all dismissed, see you in class." our professor says before turning to walk back to his room. Just what was that light emanating from his hand? We all put away the training weapons and headed to the dining hall for dinner. Once again the food was extravagant, we just had to indulge with how good everything was, and the fact that we had just experienced a battle royale made it taste even better. We also had some fun conversations with the rest of our classmates, makes me hope that these bonds will be strong, despite us continuing to hide our secret. Afterwards we all walked back to our separate rooms, Tae started to curl up on the cushions laid out on the floor. Before walking inside our room I see Byleth having a conversation with someone… from behind a door? Whoever it was he was talking to probably wasn't very social. I shake my head before I head inside the dorm and change into my pajamas.

"Good night Tae." I say and she moans in response before falling asleep. I laid down on my bed with all these thoughts still lingering…. Battle of the Eagle and Lion, crests, improving my skills, the Kingdom and the Empire… I'm sure it'll all become clearer as time goes on. Oof, what a day! I wonder what lesson plan our professor has for us, and what assignments will we have to complete over the year… well as long as we're all still together I'm sure we'll handle it.

END OF CHAPTER 8

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x1 (no change)


	9. Chapter 9: Team Blue Lions

Third-Person POV

Two days until the mock battle...

"Oh um… excuse me." said the light blue-haired maiden as she quickly walked past the prince of Faerghus and egghead zombie idol. Dimitri looked at the Golden Deer student, clearly interested in what her story is, before snapping back to reality and continued walking to the training ground.

"That was Marianne right? I wonder why she's always so depressed. It reminds me of someone…" Sakura said while catching up with her classmate.

"I'm curious as well, but right now it isn't likely that we'll learn more, well unless she transfers into our class…" Dimitri responds to her as they approached the large door to the training ground.

A tall man with a white mask stands in front of it before he moves out of the way, staring at the two and intimidating them a bit. They see Annette and Mercedes watching over Lily as she tries out her first spell.

"Ha!" the young girl shouted as she shoots a fireball straight into a training dummy, leaving it burning like a large torch. She is overjoyed, as she should, for perfectly executing it and starts bouncing with a large smile.

"Yay! I did it!" she exclaims as Annette gives her a small hug. Everyone there smiles at the achievement, well aside from Felix who's too busy trying to dodge Saki's training gauntlets, it seems she didn't take that loss too well… The training ground is a lot smaller than it was yesterday; with Tae, Ai, Junko, Ashe, Sylvain, and Byleth out and the rest of the Blue Lions training for the mock battle. Nonetheless, all of them knew that victory should be their goal in order to start off the year right, and to see if they could triumph throughout this year.

"It's better to hold the lance this way so that you will be able to strike easily, like so." Dimitri instructed Sakura as she followed his lead using her training lance.

Sakura jabs a few times into the training dummy then replies, "Ah, okay I think I've got it!" , as she hits the dummy hard. Yugiri decides to take a shot at a dummy with a training sword, she suddenly manages to knock the head off of it with ease. Both she and Mercedes giggle to themselves while a few of their classmates are stunned at what they witnessed. Meanwhile a certain conversation occurs between two students in the dining hall…

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"Why hello there Miss Ai, what brings you here today?" greets a certain red-haired flirt.

"Good day Sylvain, I was assigned cooking duty for the first time today and I hoped to head to the kitchen without any distractions." the flower-headed Heisei idol explained to him.

He bows, attempting to atone for his rudeness, "Ah my sincerest apologies my dear lady for getting in your way, perhaps I may take up this job to allow you to cease your worries. I could cook you a meal that would shock your taste buds with lovely flavor!"

"I would rather not experience a shock today, much less eat food from a "ladies-man" like you. I assume you would have your next pick-up line be well-done, instead of cooking a steak to well-done. Ha, it would be better to assume that for you, not burning it is a rare-ity." she smiles a little after her pun (I'm so proud of her).

"Hey now, if you just follow the recipe, most things will come out fine! I think. Heh, well it'll all work out somehow… maybe." Sylvain puts his hands behind his head as he struggles to say another word to her.

She sighs as his attempt to flirt with her goes nowhere, "Look, I have to get started or I won't finish in time for dinner. Try not to do this on multiple occasions, or I'll bludgeon you with a baguette, au revoir Sylvain." she walks over to the kitchen and greets the head chef, leaving Sylvain to question what just happened.

"Hope that baguette isn't stale, unlike my current material…" he says.

SYLVAIN AND AI HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C

A day passes and Kotaro has called a meeting with the zombie idols in the isolated upstairs area of the library in the morning. He congratulates them on their training so far and for blending in well with the students, well in his hammy, yet tamer voice since he could be heard if he spoke any louder.

"You've all done nice work so far, but the mock battle tomorrow is both beneficial and dangerous! If you're all revealed to be zombies in front of the knights and all of the students, it's all over for us! Plus the makeup supply will last for only two months, so it's becoming even MORE difficult for you girls!" He informs them.

"Hmph, no thanks to you." Saki tells him.

"Excuse me?! I have been busy researching to see what that staff was that YOU used to send us all here! Soooo… shut your zombie mouth!" he snaps at her, before quickly quieting down.

"Ahem, so be careful during the mock battle, as well as on your assignments given by the Church of Seiros at the end of each month. Good luck Fran-choo-choo!"

They all get up and leave while Kotaro decides to stick around and see if he's missed any books on relics or weapons, but unbeknownst to him a certain green-haired sleepyhead was surprisingly awake and spying on them from the shadows.

"Hm… seems as though they're more interesting than I thought."

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The day of the mock battle between the three houses has arrived. The teams of each side are revealed with all three having six students and one professor.

On the Golden Deer Team: Professor Hanneman, Claude, Hilda, Lorenz, Ignatz, Leonie, and Raphael.

The Black Eagles have: Professor Manuela, Edelgard, Hubert, Ferdinand (von Aegir), Dorothea, Caspar, and Petra.

Finally Team Blue Lions consists of: Byleth, Dimitri, Felix, Dedue, Mercedes, Ai, and Saki.

As Captain Jeralt and the Knights of Seiros oversee things, the battle begins with the sidelined students cheering on their classmates. What strategies have our mercenary-turned-teacher and his students have planned?

"Allow me to demonstrate!"

END OF CHAPTER 9

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x1 (no change... yet)


	10. Chapter 10: Lion's Pride

Third-Person POV

Byleth looked on, as the students of all three houses fought for victory in this mock battle. He ordered for Felix, Saki, and Mercedes to go after the Deer, while Dimitri, Dedue, and Ai head for the Eagles. Lorenz Hellman Gloucester confidently laughs as he ignores Claude's warnings and heads towards the former named students.

"Ha ha ha! It seems as though the irritable commoner girl is heading this way. We shall easily be rid of her and the other Blue Lions, come now Ignatz and watch me lead us to victory!" he proclaims.

"H-hold on Lorenz, let's just try not to charge in right awa–" he's cut off as the purple-haired noble runs off towards the gang member and swordsman.

"Go left and give me an opening, try not to get in my way." Felix bluntly says to Saki.

"What makes ya think I'd listen to you?!" she responds, yet Felix moves to the right anyways ignoring her. She grrs at him before moving left and swings her training axe into Lorenz's lance distracting him and allowing Felix to eliminate the pompous noble. A still confused Ignatz misses his bow shot at Saki before being knocked down by Mercedes casting Fire.

"I'm sorry Ignatz, let me know if you need any healing. Oh, and I guess you too Lorenz." She tells them, giving a small smile and a giggle as they walk off to the sidelines with Lorenz aggravated at what had just happened.

On the other side of the field, Ferdinand is about to eliminate Leonie before Hubert steps in and does it himself.

Annoyed, the orange-haired noble informs him that "I could have easily taken her out without your help.", prompting Hubert to pretend not to hear and runs past him. Byleth finally joins the fray and runs towards the Black Eagle side, his training sword in hand. He looks to Ai and Dedue nodding his head, as they respond with the same gesture. The latter serving as a shield to Hubert's dark magic and Ai firing arrows behind him, although the attacks are weakening Dedue with each hit. Byleth takes the opportunity to strike down Hubert when he dodged to the side trying to avoid the arrow onslaught. Lorenz, Ignatz, Leonie, and Hubert are the first ones to go.

"Ugh!" the servant to the prince cries out as Dorothea managed to sneak up from behind and take him down.

"Dedue!" Ai and Dimitri call to him after his elimination. Dorothea then smiles as she shoots Thunder straight at the Heisei Idol who manages to barely dodge. Unfortunately Byleth is currently occupied with Petra, while Dimitri is fighting with Edelgard, so no current backup is available on her side of the field.

"Aw yeah! I'm gonna win this!" Caspar yells out as he brawls with Saki and Raphael. The shorter noble attempting to take out the big man, before the biker chick lands a blow to his side. He shakes it off as the three continue fighting, and Felix finds himself against both Hilda and Claude. He finally overpowers the twin-tailed lazy girl before getting hit in the back by Claude and taken out of the battle along with her.

"You need to watch your back dude!" Saki yells at Felix while hitting Caspar again. It's pandemonium as the students watching cheer on their respective houses and the mock battle rages on.

"Quite the moves you have there, have you ever been a dancer?" Dorothea asks Ai who dodges another Thunder spell.

"You could say that I have some experience." she answers, smiling before launching two arrows at the opera singer and removing her from the fight.

Astounded at her skill Dorothea gets up and pats herself off, "Wow, I accept defeat, why don't we put on a performance sometime this year?"

"I would love to Dorothea. You did great as well, I must admit." a dazzling smile on her face as the two shake hands. Mercedes manages to take down Caspar after he takes one more hit from Saki, who deals a large blow to Raphael. They then head for Professor Hanneman as Byleth takes out Petra and is immediately attacked by Ferdinand.

"Your strategies are really impressive Professor, but I must say that you are not winning this mock battle." he confidently states, as he runs his fingers through his hair.

"Hm, why do you believe so?" the mercenary asks the noble.

"Ha! I am Ferdinand von Aegir (*ding*)! I must honor that name and my noble house by claiming victory for the Black Eagles, so have at you Prof—ACK." he is interrupted by an arrow from Claude and an arrow from Ai.

"Wow, it seems as though I found Lorenz's future best friend, although you are definitely more tolerable than him." the leader of the Golden Deer says before turning to greet Byleth and Ai, "Sorry Teach, it looks like I have to take you both down, since y'know, I'm the only one of my team left." he gestures over to where Saki and Mercedes are and they had just eliminated Professor Hanneman. He then fires multiple arrows in rapid succession, catching them both off guard. He dodges their attacks with ease before firing one more shot at Ai, knocking her down.

"Amazing... " she says as Byleth pulls her back off the ground and she walks over to where her other classmates are. The end of the mock battle draws nearer as only a handful of combatants remained.

Blue Lions: Byleth, Dimitri, Saki, Mercedes

Black Eagles: Edelgard, Professor Manuela

Golden Deer: Claude

Dimitri and Edelgard were still evenly matched, until Manuela stepped in with her magic skills. The prince of Faerghus is struggling until Mercedes heals him up and Saki joins his duel.

"You have my thanks for the assistance ladies, now let's finish this!" he charges in with Saki following behind him like an adjutant facing down Edelgard and Manuela. When one attack is dodged by one of them, the other lands their other hit and they continue this sequence until Manuela and Edelgard yield.

"Man you're real good, wonder how it would have gone if you lead our class, huh Teach?" Claude says while dodging Byleth's sword swings. His smile then disappears after he realizes he's the last non-Blue Lion on the field right now, "Argh, I hate losing! Oh well, congrats Your Princeliness, you've done it.".

"All right, that's that! The winner of this mock battle is…. The Blue Lion House!" Jeralt announces to the joy of the winning students.

"This victory is the result of everyone's hard work. Thank you, my friends. You did well." says a proud Dimitri, as his fellow classmates cheer loudly.

STAGE COMPLETE!

MVP: Saki

Saki's motivation is maxed out!

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Hours later the Blue Lions celebrated their victory in the dining hall, eating to their hearts' content! Byleth had to be convinced into joining the camaraderie, but he and Tae ended up eating the most food. During the festivities however, Linhardt had approached them and asked to speak with Ai, who skeptically agreed. They walked out to the dock where they've seen Byleth fish a couple of times and the crest scholar looks around, hoping that they are not seen.

"Why have you brought me out here? I'm really enjoying the type of meat they have this evening and I'd like to sample more of it." she tells him.

"Now now, this is only going to be quick. I don't want to tire myself out with a long conversation since I have some research to do before bedtime." he assures her, "Now then, how is it that all of you girls are undead?"

The question caused Ai to tense up, wondering how he was able to know something like this.

, "What are you talking about?".

"Well, while you were in the library with that loud man in the strange outfit I was just waking up from a nap after I heard his annoying voice."

"_Ugh, that idiot…"_ Ai thought before Linhardt continued.

"He said something about a makeup supply and not being revealed as 'zombies' to the other students and knights. Do you have anything to refute this claim?"

"..."

"I'm not looking to out your secret to anyone, far from it in fact. I am just interested in you all now that I know you girls are walking corpses with human intelligence and personalities. Well, asides from that wild girl I saw earlier."

Tae sneezes before shoving a whole plate of Beast Meat Teppanyaki into her mouth, along with the plate itself.

"So why are you telling me this?" Ai asks him, clearly suspicious of his intentions.

"I simply want to study you all as a side project to my crest research. It might make a good book one day. Anyways, I'm going to the library before I get any more tired. Maybe I should find an easier way to closely examine you girls, the professor too, he might be tied to more crest research since he lets Professor Hanneman run tests on him. Oh well, good night." He yawns before walking away, and Ai stares him down the whole time.

"_Just what is he planning…"_ she thinks as she walks back into the dining hall, her classmates noticing how lost in thought she is.

LINHARDT AND AI HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C  
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Tomorrow morning Professor Byleth has two announcements: First, their first mission together is to rout some bandits in Zanado, the Red Canyon. Having to take on REAL combat experience will be difficult, especially for Sakura who had not fully recovered from her first kill in Remire Village. And next, there are some new arrivals for the Blue Lion House, three of them in fact.

Bernadetta von Varley had been scared for her life at the start of the school year, but when Byleth visited her on a few occasions, she felt calmer as a result. He even gave her some cake after he learned she liked it, so in order to feel better about going to the academy, she joined the class. Leonie Pinelli saw Byleth on the battlefield and thought that learning through him might be the only way she can learn more of Captain Jeralt's techniques, so joining his class would be perfect for her. Then you could hear Ai groan as she pinched the bridge of her nose when Linhardt von Hevring was introduced to the class as he yawned and looked right at her curiously.

"Now then, shall I start the seminar?"

END OF CHAPTER 10

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x2


	11. Chapter 11: Bandit Beatdown

Third-Person POV

Junko just got done fishing and was on her way to the kitchen to hand her catches off to the head chef until she heard something coming from the greenhouse. Someone was singing, which interested Junko since she and the others haven't had the opportunity to have any idol practice ever since they arrived in Fódlan. But by the time she got there a flustered and blushing Annette ran out, causing the Showa Idol to move out of her way. Junko peered in to see Felix watering the plants and got startled by him staring back at her.

"If don't need anything go away, I'm busy." he tells Junko as he turns his attention back to his work.

"S-sorry, I'll leave you be." she says as she quickly runs to where she was originally heading and gives the head chef her freshly caught fish. She walks back to her room, thinking about what happened between Felix and Annette, and she ends up walking into Bernadetta von Varley.

"Augh!" the two girls cried out as they collided, with spirals in their eyes to show their heads spinning (luckily for Junko not literally).

"Ahh! I'm so sorry! I should have looked where I was going, you probably hate me now! And right as I just joined the class…" Bernie said as she apologized to her new classmate.

Junko, just as nervous as she is, tells her "N-no! I should have been paying more attention, I don't hate you! I shouldn't have made such a bad first impression by crashing into you while I was lost in thought!"

"Please don't blame yourself when it's my fault for not noticing you! I'm the one who made a bad first impression! Dang it Bernie you're just so clumsy, stupid, and unfit for marriage!" the purple-haired recluse replies.

"You mustn't use those types of words to describe anyone, much less someone as innocent as you!" Junko responded while flustered. The two of them continue this back-and-forth for about five minutes until they run out of breath. Exhausted, the two of them just went back to their rooms and fell asleep instantly.

JUNKO AND BERNADETTA HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C

After weeks of training, bonding, and certifications, the Blue Lion House make their way to Zanado, The Red Canyon, where the bandits have been cornered. Kostas, their leader angrily commands his fellow thieves to take down the students, and chaos erupts from there.

"Ack, we're outnumbered!" Sakura says as she fends off a sword-wielding bandit with her lance.

"Weren't you trained by Jeralt too? Use that knowledge will you?! Don't let great lessons go to waste!" Leonie scolds her before she jumps in to help the egghead and knocks out the bandit for her.

"Sorry, and thanks…" Sakura replies to her statement.

"You're welcome, but we can't get comfortable, look out!" the orange short-haired girl warns her as an enemy arrow barely misses its target. We move on from Number 1 to Number 5, where a group of enemies surround Ingrid and Yugiri.

"Hey there good-lookin' heh heh…" one of them says to the courtesan, yet he is quickly cut down by her Killing Edge sword. She continues slicing them down as Ingrid fights off two of them.

"Oh my, those were quite the critical hits." Yugiri says as she giggles to herself.

"WHOA!" Sylvain shouts from the other side of the area as a blade of Wind and a ball of Fire hit two bandits who were sneaking up from behind him. Mercedes then healed up the bit of damage he got while fighting.

"I owe you girls some cake when we get back!" he tells Lily and Annette who are both excited after hearing that. They high-five each other before getting back into battle-ready positions, continuing to shoot Wind and Fire spells at the enemy. Meanwhile Felix is busy taking down multiple foes at once, not truly finding any challenge among these simple thieves. He's about to take down one more before Saki knocks the bandit down with a swing of her axe, followed by a big uppercut with an iron gauntlet, similar to a Shoryuken.

"Impressive, but I could have easily taken him out without your help." the dark-haired swordsman compliments(?) her.

"I know that, I just wanted to propose a competition. Whoever takes out the least of these dumbasses will be stuck doing the winner's jobs for the month. You in, jerkass?" Saki asks him.

"It would certainly make me less bored fighting these fools, so I accept your offer. Prepare yourself, blondie." Felix accepts as he takes down one more.

The battle between the Lions and the gang of bandits rages on with everyone in split into to paths. On one side Bernadetta is hiding behind Byleth as he gives orders to his students, Ai is trying to snap Linhardt back to reality after he fainted (he managed to kill a bandit and saw blood leaking out of the body), Dimitri & Dedue lead the charge towards the bandit leader below, Felix & Saki have their little contest, and Ashe attempts to unlock a treasure chest while Junko & Tae take down anyone who gets near him. On the other side, Leonie, Sakura, Yugiri, Ingrid, Lily, Annette, and Mercedes following the other path towards Kostas so that the bandits will have nowhere else to go.

"I've got the Large Bullion! Now let's–AGH!" Ashe is hit in the arm with an axe from a bandit, with blood running down his sleeve. He fought back by shooting an arrow towards him, but the damage was done by the time it killed the attacker. Junko gasped as she quickly headed towards her fellow silver-haired student.

"Oh no… are you alright Ashe?" She said while kneeling down next to him.

He clutched his arm trying to stop the bleeding, "It's… not looking good for me. Call for Mercedes or Linhardt, before this wound gets infected…"

"Wait, I have a vulnerary, and I've been meaning to use this skill for a while now…" she hands him the vulnerary and she focuses for a second while he uses it… green light envelopes Ashe's arm, sealing up the injury left there.

"The Professor taught you Faith magic?" he asks, clearly surprised.

"I haven't gotten used to fighting just yet, so I thought learning how to support everyone would be more suitable for me. I'm relieved that the spell did not fail to heal you, I don't think I could have managed to get you to Mercedes or Linhardt on time." a sigh of relief comes out of her mouth as the two of them smile before getting back up and joining the others.

At the bottom of the canyon, Tae continued swinging her axe around and managing to hit every enemy around her. Her growls toward the thieves intimidated them enough to cause a few of them to start running off.

"Yeah get 'em Tae!" Lily cheered as she watched her take down the remaining enemy units. Unexpectedly however, she started dashing towards the leader, Kostas, who was both angry and confused at what was approaching him.

"Stay away from me you berserker brat!" He says as he swings his axe but misses his target. The zombie girl bit down on his right arm, causing him immense pain until he could take no more, he dropped his axe and decked her in the face with a left hook... knocking her head off in the process.

All combatants stopped, horrified at what they had just witnessed. Byleth was shocked, and he prepared to use Divine Pulse to turn back the hands of time. Linhardt, now more awake after seeing this, somewhat knew what was about to happen and kept staring intently at the scene. Mercedes was even starting to pray for who she believed was a dead classmate... until Tae's head jumps back at Kostas biting his left hand this time. The students and remaining few bandits couldn't believe what they were seeing, the bandit leader yelled out in pain as he tried to shake Tae off of him. He barely manages to remove her and is about to chop her head in half on the ground, but Ai fires a Curved Shot towards him, hitting his leg. He once again drops his axe as Dimitri runs in and skewered him with his iron lance.

Sakura runs towards Tae and puts her head back onto her body before Dimitri asks, "Just… what in the world is going on?"

END OF CHAPTER 11

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x2 (no change)


	12. Chapter 12: Class Meeting

Dimitri's POV

The entire room was tense, asides from the Professor and Linhardt, everyone in the class felt uneasy. The seven students we welcomed into our class at the beginning of the year were sat down in the center of the classroom along with their oddly dressed accomplice. Despite being given the information by the latter, the entire concept was like some twisted joke!

"So they're zombies?" suddenly asked our Professor walking up to Mr. Tatsumi I believe.

Unmoved, the dark spectacled man answered the question and then some, "Indeed, and I mentioned before, that it was I the one who revived them."

I had felt the spirits of the dead call out to me with each passing day, yet having individuals who have been brought back from the dead in physical form is difficult to believe.

"We do not mean any of you harm. We only wish to stay here and learn how to survive in a world such as this. I know that this sounds insane, and it is, but it is the truth." Ai explained to us. I can tell that her words are not being used to deceive, though few of us have chosen to let our guard down. Clearly intimidated, Sakura stood up and told us something we needed to think about.

"The days we have spent here so far have been so exciting, and I would have never imagined having a life like this when I originally died. Please, let us keep bonding together, learning together, and fighting together! We… have nowhere else to go."

After that statement, it took a little while before I decided to break the silence. "Thank you for revealing this to us, I swear to you all that we will keep this to ourselves, but more time is needed in order for a decision to be made. I would say until tomorrow evening is enough, does this time work, Professor? Mr. Tatsumi?"

They both nodded at me as we ended our class meeting for the day and most of us walked back to our dormitory rooms. Some ended up staying to talk about the skirmish with the bandits and the idea of the undead among us, unsurprising considering how unbelievable it all is. I however decided to take a quick stroll around the monastery to clear my head and to stop the voices of my perished loved ones from crying out too loudly. Silencing them will allow me to focus more on improving myself so I could carry out their wishes easily. As I was passing through the stables, I noticed a figure feeding a horse, looking closer it was Marianne and her horse companion.

"Marianne?" I said to get her attention, accidentally startling the poor girl.

"Prince Dimitri, um, good evening." she told me.

"It's okay to address me as just 'Dimitri', I am a fellow student after all. May I ask why you are feeding this horse so late?"

"Oh, D-Dorte had not been fed enough, so I decided to provide them a snack before I went to bed. I'm sorry for getting in the way I'll head back to my room now, excuse me."

She quickly walked past me as I decided to turn in for the night as well. As I made it back to my room and I noticed something, when I encountered her, the voices were completely silent until she was gone. I brushed off that observation as I instead focused on how we could approach our undead schoolmates the next day.

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We all sat down for our lessons today, the Professor instructed Junko in faith & riding, Bernadetta in bows & authority, and Lily in reason & authority. Once more, all of us were tense around each other until the lecture concluded for the day. Mr. Tatsumi entered the classroom once more and the Professor started to speak.

"I assume that we are all ready to begin?"

Everyone nodded and I stood up in front of the class, prepared to reveal what we have to say to the girls.

"Sakura, Saki, Ai, Junko, Yugiri, Lily, and Tae. Even though we have not spent too much time with each other, so far the year has been more exciting ever since both you and the Professor joined the Blue Lions. There may be risks in keeping individuals like you at the monastery, but I am willing to take those risks so that we may continue growing closer as companions as the year goes on."

Felix stood up and began to direct his attention to Saki, "Hey Blondie, both you and the Professor have managed to give me some interesting sparring sessions, keep that up and I could consider you as an equal."

"Hmph, same to you pal." She gritted her teeth after his statement.

"I wouldn't want to toss out some beautiful ladies just because they're different than us. Especially you my dear la—" Sylvain is cut off by getting punched in the face by Ai and Ingrid for grabbing the former's hand.

"Thanks for the kind words, but I won't hesitate if you try that again." the flower-haired idol warns him.

"What he meant to say was that we should be accepting of anyone no matter where they came from…" Ingrid continues after glancing at Dedue for a second who stands up himself.

"You, along with the professor are owed gratitude for assisting His Highness when you first met. And I will not allow the same treatment of people from Duscur to befall you girls as well."

"I know we had just met, but I also do not wish for you all to live the life I had before meeting Lord Lonato. And I owe you as well, Junko, for healing my wound." Ashe gives a quick bow to them before Mercedes and Annette step forward.

"I really enjoy having tea with Yugiri and baking sweets for Lily, I wouldn't want to say goodbye so soon after our first mission."

As Mercie finishes, Annie peps up, "Yeah! I love studying with you guys and I wouldn't want the fun to end so soon!"

"Annie…" Lily smiles with tears of joy forming in her eyes.

"I'm still curious on what Captain Jeralt saw in you girls, yet I can't lie when I say that I would enjoy being friends." Leonie tells them.

"U-um, same here. Just, don't let Tae hurt me okay?" says Bernadetta sheepishly.

Linhardt yawns before making his case, "Why would I give up an opportunity to observe such interesting individuals. I wouldn't have left the Black Eagles if you were not in this class, though the Professor could have convinced me."

"So it's decided, all of you will remain students of the Blue Lions. But we must remain cautious of what would happen if Lady Rhea or Seteth finds out about this. We will also have to inform new students who join the class over the course of the year and make sure they do not let it slip out. Class dismissed!" Professor finishes as every student cheers. However, he decides to walk over to Tatsumi and they walk out the door to converse privately, how odd…

We all head to the dining hall to enjoy our time together as companions. Although I am unable to cease the cries of the departed, I shall continue to grow stronger alongside my fellow students, in order to get my revenge on those who caused the Tragedy of Duscur.

END OF CHAPTER 12

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x2 (no change)


	13. Chapter 13: Lead-up to Lonato

Third-Person POV

"Here, let me help you out!"

"T-thanks…"

To compensate for the amount of students in the Blue Lions, four students were enlisted to do tasks meant for only two. Sylvain and Junko were bringing ingredients for Ashe and Annette during cooking duty, though the floofy haired idol did need a bit of help carrying things. However, her mind was on Ashe because of how the class got their latest assignment earlier.

"I was informed that we must accompany the Knights of Seiros on their mission to halt an uprising against the Church. Leading this uprising is the noble Lord Lonato." Byleth's words echoed through Junko's head as she worried about her fellow silver haired classmate.

"Hey Junko! I need more Albinean Berries!" Annette called out, snapping her back to reality as she rushed over to get some.

After being handed the berries, Annette glanced at Ashe as well, who was struggling to take his mind off of the assignment while stirring a pot of food.

"You're worried about him too, huh?" she asked Junko, who nods her head slowly.

Sylvain walks in and puts his hand on her shoulder, "The poor kid, he owes his life to Lonato and now he has to see him and the village he grew up in as enemies. Hopefully they can surrender peacefully without any casualties..."

Suddenly, while they were focused on their poor classmate, a frying pan suddenly bursts into flames and startles the four students. They try their best to try and put it out as kitchen workers arrive to prevent the fire from spreading.

While that was being sorted out, (thanks Annette), two rivals worked to one up each other before the mission.

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"Hunh! Ha! Hyaah!"

"Kyaa! Ha! Hiyah!"

Both Felix and Saki were on opposite sides of the Knight's Hall, taking down training dummies one by one all while glaring at each other. The two of them stop what they are doing and walk all the way to the Training Ground, clearly tired of fighting unmoving opponents. Without any words spoken, they begin a sparring session. It was a sequence of dodging, landing small blows with their training weapons, and clashing, almost like they have gotten used to each other's fighting styles.

"TAKE THIS!" Saki yells before charging forward with a punch similar looking to a Terry Bogard Burn Knuckle. Upon hearing her call out the move the Ferdiad swordsman dodges to the right and slashes her back in response, ending the battle.

"Hmph, I'll give you this, if you had kept your mouth shut I wouldn't have been able to tell when to make my move." Felix tells her.

"Tch, shut up man. Just know that I will beat you next time…" The Dorami member says as she picks herself off the ground.

Raising an eyebrow Felix responds, "Really now? I'd imagine it would take years for you to catch up, but we'll continue dueling until you do, and perhaps longer if I'm impressed. Besides the Professor, sparring with you has been a bit more enjoyable than other opponents lately."

"Feeling's mutual, don't think I fought many people I would consider a rival in a long time. Other than doing idol stuff with the team, this is the most fun I've had since coming back from the dead. Now let's go at it again Fraldarius!" she yells as she charges once more.

"Fun, huh?" He says to himself before continuing to spar with his new training partner.

SAKI AND FELIX HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C

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"Why would anyone want to go against the Church? What reasons could one possibly have to do so? Is there something we're not being told here? Man this is so confusing…" Sakura thought to herself while she was picking up weeds.

"Um… Sakura?"

"Oh! Sorry Ai, I'm just thinking about the mission we have coming up."

The two idols went back to work as the Prince decided to bring up a strange fact to pass the time.

"By the way… sometimes you find edible plants among the weeds!"

Dedue, clearly not wanting Dimitri to endanger his health, bluntly states "Please do not eat the weeds."

"I am just saying…"

Sakura giggles at His Highness, while Ai gives a small smile at the display before continuing their task. The two of them feel at ease knowing that they can continue spending time at the Academy until they manage to find a way home, though they can't feel like they're out of the woods yet. The secret must remain hidden from the Church to avoid a panic in the Monastery, so they should not be careless. The class continues working hard until the day of the mission arrives.

"Are you going to be alright Ashe? You can turn back if you don't want to fight…" Junko, still worried, asks him as they walk towards his home village.

"No, I need to know why Lonato would cause such a thing, I can't turn away now. I appreciate the concern Junko, but I have to help him."

Byleth had brought Kotaro along so he could see how well Franchouchou was doing in the class and as he walked alongside him and Catherine, one of the Knights of Seiros, he took a look at her weapon. A Hero's Relic, something he read about while in the library, reminded him a lot of the staff that brought them to Fódlan. But before he could admire it more, a battle had began, and the Blue Lions were thrown into a battle against civilians.

END OF CHAPTER 13

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x2 (no change)


	14. Chapter 14: Fighting in the Fog

Third-Person POV

As enemy soldiers appeared from the fog, students and the Knights of Seiros were in quite the struggle. Not being able to see where they were coming from was a problem, as well as the fact that they weren't fighting thugs, but rather civilians that chose to fight alongside Lord Lonato.

"Why, Lonato? Why did you drag so many others into this?" Ashe says as a member of the militia attacks the young archer who manages to dodge.

"Watch out!" Junko yells as she uses Nosferatu, staggering the foe before knocking him down with her lance.

The two of them move to another part of the area as Byleth continues directing where the students should go.

"We have to remain cautious, other hostiles could be lurking anywhere in this kind of weather. Bernadetta, watch my back, you're my adjutant so take down enemy soldiers from afar." he tells his scared pupil.

Bernie shivers as she responds to him, "B-but, I can barely see anything out here! There's no point in having me battle alongside you, I would just slow you down… AH!"

She fires an arrow quickly into the chest of an incoming militia member, who promptly falls down as soon as it enters. She is in shock that she managed to take them out just like that, as Byleth gives her a quick smile and says, "Each battle, a chance to grow.". He snaps her back to reality before they regroup with Catherine, who just used Thunderbrand to fend off two soldiers at once.

"We're not getting anywhere with all this fog…" she tells Byleth.

"Maybe there could be a way to clear it up, but how?" he ponders as the fighting continued on for quite a bit.

Saki then spots a mysterious mage, with a black beak-like mask. She charges forward, steel axe in hand and strikes them down, dodging their magic attacks. She grins before she notices the fog starting to fade around the battlefield, revealing Lonato and his troops at the far end of it.

"Good job, now it's my turn." Catherine tells Saki before running ahead towards the rebelling lord's forces. Tatsumi looks on, focused on the power of Thunderbrand as the Knight of Seiros cleans house. She dispatches a bunch of them easily as Lonato scowls, clearly due to his anger towards the Church. He then notices his adopted son Ashe among his enemies and chooses to converse with him.

"Stand down, Ashe. I must destroy these evil-doers by any means necessary!"

"Please surrender, Lonato! Whatever your reasons for doing this, we can still talk it out!"

"Rhea is an infidel who has deceived the people and desecrated the goddess! We have virtue and the goddess herself on our side!"

"Even if all that's true, dragging the townsfolk into it like this isn't right!" Ashe's face shows how distraught he is, and Lonato shares the same expression for having to fight the young boy whom he took in.

"Enough. If that is how you feel, prepare yourself! I'm putting an end to this!" Lonato finishes as the other students arrive.

Sakura, having heard this go down is puzzled as to how someone as nice as Rhea, who offered to let the girls stay and become students at the monastery can be seen as evil. Not helping the fact is how she is currently being forced to cut down townspeople who became soldiers to support this uprising. Are they really working with the good guys here?! Before she could stop thinking, she is then knocked down to ground along with her lance.

"Lord Lonato doesn't deserve such sadness and anger… Now it's your turn to suffer!" the militia member said before raising his blade in an attempt to stab her.

"Sakura!" Dimitri charges in and skewers the foe with his lance, yet he is clearly horrified for what he just did to what was once an innocent man.

"Thanks Your Highness…" she says to him as he picks her back up and makes sure she's alright before heading back to the confrontation. She then notices how Dimitri looked in that moment, like for a second he wasn't looking like himself….

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Lonato is stirring after dueling with Byleth, yet he has yet to let up. Remaining on top of his steed, he fights on despite his forces falling one by one, until single arrow hit his armor. He looks over to where it came from and sees Ashe, looking on with frustration, but before he could say another word Byleth takes advantage of the distraction. The once proud lord falls as he gives his last words: "That vile woman… Christophe… Forgive me…".

Ashe looks like he is on the verge of breaking down in tears, "Lonato, I…"

Junko attempts to comfort him as the rest of the enemy troops fall and the battle is now over.

STAGE COMPLETE!

MVP: Ashe (I'm so sorry)

Ashe's motivation is maxed out!

As everyone prepared to head home (though Ashe was still checking if his brother and sister were okay) Catherine found a document detailing a plan to assassinate Lady Rhea, surprising many of the students there. Who formulated such a plan? When will it be enacted? These answers will be found very soon…

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"Dimitri!"

"Oh, good evening Sakura." the prince turns around after the idol calls out his name.

"I just wanted to thank you again for helping back there, I really appreciate it!" Sakura bows, thankful for the help.

"I cannot just ignore a fellow classmate and friend in danger, you would have perished had I not intervened. Well, uh, perished again in your case."

"Yeah, ha ha… you're really heroic, huh? Faerghus will be in good hands once you manage to take the throne!"

"Hopefully it will, I'm the only heir to the throne and I have to live up to those expectations. You have a job that has many expectations as well, don't you? An "idol", was it?

"Yeah! Franchouchou's gonna work hard to get to the top and save Saga!... Whatever that last part means ha…"

"Ha ha ha, well then, I wish you luck with your business once you manage to return home. For now, let me treat you to some dinner. I could go for some Gautier Cheese Gratin right about now!"

"That sounds good, lead the way Your Highness!"

SAKURA AND DIMITRI HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C

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"Mmmm! This cake is so yummy!" Lily says with a big smile.

"I'm glad you like it, I baked it myself." Mercedes smiles back, "What do you think Annie? Annie?"

Annette is glaring intensely at Felix, upset about something that may have happened between the two of them.

"Hey Annie!" Lily raises her voice slightly to get her attention.

"Oh! Sorry, I was just lost in thought for a moment, ha ha… ah!" she awkwardly sips her tea before she realizes it's still hot. Her two friends giggle at the sight of a flustered Annette.

After the long assignment, everyone just wanted to have a break, especially Ashe. His classmates all decided to take up his class duties until he felt better. Not much else occurred until the next lecture, as the Garland Moon comes to an end and the month of the Blue Sea Moon has begun. The Blue Lions class came together once more to discuss the plan to assassinate the Archbishop, and concluded that the enemy may have an ulterior motive.

"We need to find out where our enemies plan on attacking in order to prevent a catastrophe during the Goddess's Rite of Rebirth. Gather as much information as you can, so we can determine where to head to during our upcoming assignment. Good luck everyone!" Dimitri steps down from the stand and he and the students scour the monastery, looking for clues as to where they would strike. It took an entire day but they managed to settle on one single location that would be open during the event, the Holy Mausoleum. And thus they start the preparations for the next assignment.

END OF CHAPTER 14

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x2 (no change)


	15. Chapter 15: Hoping for a Healer

Third-Person POV

"Excuse me, Tae was it?"

The unawakened zombie girl was busy devouring the large meal in front of her, while the prince's retainer from Duscur looked on, astonished at the sight. She grunted at him, acknowledging his presence, before continuing her binge.

"Well then, I am glad you are enjoying the meal I prepared today…" he looked on as Tae lifted her head up to look at him, licking off the food she had on her face. A few students were disgusted at the sight and immediately left the dining hall one of them bumping into Dedue on their way out.

"You do not seem to care about how you are seen in the eyes of our fellow students. Despite being seen as an outsider you continue being yourself, it seems as though we share that same sentiment." the large man tells her as she finishes the rest of the food. She stares at him for a second before starting to nom on his arm, though not hard enough to cause pain for the guy.

"Um… however, I do request that you cease this sooner…"

TAE AND DEDUE HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C

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"Ugh… do we really have to take these tests?"

"Shh!" Ai silences Saki as they both hand in their Certification Exams for the fighter class. They both manage to pass as they head towards Sakura, Linhardt, and Leonie.

"Ahh, I can't believe I barely passed my exam…" the eggheaded idol sighs.

Leonie smiles as she speaks up, "Wasn't as hard as I thought, it's probably the fruit of my training with Captain Jeralt."

"Can ya shut up already with that, how many times are you gonna bring him up?" says Saki, clearly annoyed.

"As many times as I need for you to appreciate the training you got to experience under him as well." Leonie scoffs at her.

"Now now… we need to cooperate, we have another training mission before we guard the Holy Mausoleum at the end of the month. There shouldn't be any strife between us when we could be dealing with dangerous individuals." Ai says to prevent the two girls from fighting.

"That is quite true. But speaking of the training mission, I don't think I can make it this time. I need to catch up on some crest research I have been ignoring since studying you zombie girls. Goodbye." the sleepy Linhardt walks away from the four ladies with exasperated expressions on their faces.

He walks out of the Blue Lions classroom and is immediately stopped by Kotaro Tatsumi.

"YOU! TIRED SMART BOY!"

"Um… hi?"

"COME WITH ME NOW! I NEED HELP!"

"Why? I just–Ugh, this better not take up my research and nap times…"

As Tatsumi drags him away for whatever he needs him for, we cut to the aforementioned training battle, where more bandits are fought in a grassy field.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this, maybe I should have stayed back too…" Sakura says as she notices the blood dripping off her lance.

"The mission was to rout the bandits, so we have no choice. This is how we steel ourselves for future conflicts…" Ashe responded while missing a target from his bow.

The girl just slowly nodded as she takes down another bandit, "I guess so…. Oh, have you been doing alright lately, Ashe? Our last mission was quite difficult for you…"

"Me? No, I can get by just fine. My brother and sister made it out of the conflict unscathed, I'm more relieved about that. Although I still think about Lonato every night… Wait, Yugiri!"

They turn to see the courtesan cornered by three enemies at once, yet her calm expression remains unchanged.

"Hey there gorgeous, how about we go to town tonight?"

"That does sound lovely, but I have plans to have a tea party with a friend later on. So I must refuse." she says without a sign of fear.

"Your friend will have to wait lady, now fork over the gold and we wo–ACK!" the bandit is then hit by Yugiri casting Fire twice before using her Killing Edge to finish off the rest of them.

"Oh dear, maybe I should have applied less force…" she puts her hand to her mouth in slight surprise, while her other classmates stare in amazement before going back to work.

The rest of the bandits were soon taken care of and the students got some good training in before their big mission. Though Byleth needed to give some feedback to the class.

"You all did well out there, but it seems like with the amount of combatants on the battlefield at once, we run the risk of at least one of you being badly injured. One of our healers, Linhardt, was not able to join us, so asides from Mercedes and Junko, we need one more healer to make up for his absence. Does anyone know any students from other classes who are willing to join us for our defense of the Holy Mausoleum?"

Everyone thought for a moment before Dimitri suddenly remembers someone who could help.

"I have one suggestion, but I'll try to convince her myself so you won't have to carry the burden." He says as he and the rest of the Blue Lions prepare to walk back to the monastery.

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"Marianne?"

"Oh, yes Dimitri?" she stops her prayer and turns around to see His Highness, and wonders what he needs.

"My class is in need of another healer before our next mission at the end of this month. I couldn't think of anyone else more suitable. May you temporarily join us?"

"Wait, why would you need an extra healer? Don't you have two already?" Marianne responds, she is clearly taken aback by his offer.

He clears his throat before beginning to explain,"Well, one of them decided to sit out on us in a recent battle, and Mercedes cannot handle everyone at once, though the professor has been teaching Junko faith magic it's not quite as strong. We need to be prepared in case an ally is out of range of all of them. You don't have to come with us if you do not wish to."

"Um, are you sure? I would probably cause you more trouble than you could handle…" Marianne looks down to the cathedral floor, unsure of what he's asking of her.

"I assure you, I am still willing to fight alongside you, despite what could happen. There is also a possibility that we could be in more trouble without your assistance. Take some time to think it over." Dimitri walks away leaving the blue-haired noble girl to continue praying.

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"Make sure to keep an eye on her, ok Your Princeliness?" Claude calls out as Marianne joins the class for the mission.

"I'll do my best to ensure her safety." Dimitri replies.

The Blue Lions make their way towards the entrance to the Holy Mausoleum, only being stopped by Seteth and his "sister" Flayn on the way there.

"It is as we suspected. The enemy is within." Dimitri looks ahead and sees a mage with a crow like mask opening a casket, "The enemy is after the casket of Saint Seiros. Do they intend to steal her bones? We must defeat those enemies before they open the casket."

"Let's take kick names and take ass!" Saki yells as she charges into battle.

"A-actually it's… never mind." Junko tries correcting her before running as well.

The group splits into two as the battle unfolds.

Group 1: Dimitri, Dedue, Sakura, Saki, Marianne, Ashe, Leonie, Tae, Yugiri, Sylvain

Group 2: Byleth, Felix, Annette, Junko, Ashe, Mercedes, Lily, Ai, Bernadetta, Ingrid

Not in Battle: Linhardt

END OF CHAPTER 15

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x2 (no change)


	16. Chapter 16: The Sword of the Creator

Third-Person POV

Insert Song: Fódlan Winds

Felix slashes at an enemy archer protecting Annette and Junko, "Stand back if you can't fight well, you'll just get in the way.", he tells them as he goes after an axe wielder.

"Ooooh, I'll show him. Maybe if I perform better than him, then he'll have no choice but to forget!" Annie pouts.

"Forget what?" Junko asks, tilting her head in confusion.

Annette blushes a little, "Uh… nothing! Let's catch up with the Professor!".

The two scurry on, meanwhile on the opposite side of the Mausoleum Sakura spots a creepy looking knight on a horse, a metal skull-shaped mask covering his face with glowing red eyes.

"Eep!" a startled Sakura says as she catches up to Dimitri.

"That knight looks like he has experience. It would be foolish to challenge him recklessly." He says while taking down his opponent.

"You don't have to tell me twice…" Sakura replies knocking down hers with her lance.

"Ahh help!" Bernadetta cries out as she misses her shot on a swordsman, who was now approaching her quickly.

"I'll save you! Fire!" Lily shoots a Fire spell and roasts the swordsman as Bernie gives a sigh of relief.

Marianne heals up Saki and Leonie, thanking her before they both charge back into the fray.

"Oh dear…" she says to herself, witnessing bodies of their foes collapsing as the battle against the intruders continues.

Suddenly reinforcements emerge from behind and charge towards her, since she was the closest to the entrance.

"Marianne!" Dimitri cries out as he runs quickly to her side and guards the oncoming attacks.

Tae and Dedue then arrive to assist with the protection of their second healer, with the former biting them before the latter knocks them down with his axe. Marianne is safe as Dimitri helps her off the ground.

"Are you alright, ack..." He asks her, clutching his right arm.

"I am, thank you…" She responds, as she heals him up.

A mysterious mage is then spotted by the casket of Saint Seiros.

"You're too late! The seal will be broken any minute now…" He tells the Blue Lions as he prepares to open the casket.

Byleth, along with Ai and Ashe finish up with the opponents they're dealing with, "I'll go after him." the professor states.

"We'll provide some assistance by firing at him." Ai responds to his statement.

"Very well, cover me while I charge straight on."

The two archers nod as they follow him to where the mysterious mage is still opening the casket.

"No hesitation!" Byleth yells out as he slashes away at the other mages around him.

"I've got you!" Ashe does the same as he fires an arrow into an enemy soldier.

"Adieu!" Ai decides to join in in the crit quote parade as she switches to her sword to deal a heavy blow to another mage.

(Insert Song ends)

"It's no use! The seal is broken. You can't–Huh? A sword?" the mysterious mage pulls out an old sword from the casket of Saint Seiros as Byleth runs at him, disarming and catching the sword from the mage's hands.

The mage then casts a fireball that Byleth slashes away with the old sword, "What?", the latter shouts in response. Byleth tosses away his iron sword and continues slashing the fire spells thrown at him with the old sword, now glowing.

"Whoa…" Ashe lets out as the other students look on.

Ai realizes that the sword is just like Catherine's Thunderbrand Hero's Relic & the strange staff that sent them all there and gasps at the display of power as their professor slices through a barrier the mage used to protect himself. Byleth cuts down the mage, who collapses from the attack and then stares at the sword, noticing the large hole in the middle of it.

"That sword is… I see. What a pleasant surprise." the scary knight says before warping away.

The other students all catch up to Byleth as they observe the sword.

"He got away… We have no choice but to let them go for now." Dimitri disappointedly states before looking at the weapon himself, "Professor...The way that sword is glowing. I wonder…".

Catherine and the Knights of Seiros arrive to capture any remaining intruders as the mission is complete.

STAGE COMPLETE!

MVP: Byleth

Thanks to the efforts of Byleth, all of your allies' motivation increased!

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The students and their professor meet up in the classroom where Dimitri gives his report on what happened after the attack on the Holy Mausoleum. Those behind the attack and assasination attempt were the Western Church, while the masked knight who led them has yet to be found. After explaining how the Church is split up into different branches across Fódlan another topic is brought up.

"So… those people from the Western Church were… Um, Lady Rhea had them killed, didn't she?" Ashe asks.

"W-what?!" Sakura gasps at what she just heard.

"Well, of course she did. Going against the teachings of Seiros like that. Quite unforgivable!" Mercedes frowns.

"They did try to raid a sacred place during the Rite of Rebirth…" Junko sighs as she looks down.

"Those who stray must be punished, I suppose. That said… Professor, I–" Ingrid is interrupted as Seteth walks in and requests that Byleth join him and Lady Rhea to have a discussion.

After the rest of them leave the classroom, presumably to get some rest, Sakura taking a walk, still feeling shaky after what she heard.

"Is something on your mind?"

"Huh? Who said that?" She looks around to see the person the voice came out of.

"Oh, my apologies. It's been a while since we've met, since you weren't one of the combatants during the mock battle a few months ago." Edelgard approaches the egghead as she gives out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's um… sorry I don't know how to say it."

"Edelgard. Now then, what is troubling you, Sakura was it?

"Yeah ha ha… well it's complicated. I understand that the Western Church people had done something terrible, but having them killed? It feels…"

"Wrong? I understand how you are feeling. Yet it is what it is for now, unless the status quo is changed, the Central Church will continue functioning the way it is."

"That's true… but it makes me wonder what caused them to hate the Central Church enough to do this. Oh, I'm sorry for troubling you with these thoughts, Edelgard! But I'm glad to have someone to talk to about this. I'm sure everyone else in my class feels the same way, but not to the same extent as I do."

"Well then, if you have any other problems and need someone to listen, feel free to converse with me any time. Though, I'm sure you'd enjoy those times better without Hubert standing there behind you."

Sakura lets out a scream as Hubert shares an evil smile, "Well well, aren't you just adorable. It looks like Lady Edelgard has a new companion, it's a pity that you aren't in the Black Eagles…"

"That's enough Hubert. Let us turn in for the night." Edelgard tells him as she bids Sakura farewell for now.

"I think I need to sleep too… though I doubt I can without one eye open." Sakura sighs as she walks to the dormitory.

EDELGARD AND SAKURA HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C

END OF CHAPTER 16

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x2 (no change)


	17. Chapter 17: Beastly Battle

Third-Person POV

"Sylvain!"

"Oh, Ai, Junko, how're you two ladies doing this fine morning?"

The two idols walk up to the young noble, surprised that they approached him with such serious looks on their faces.

Junko was the first to speak up, "The next mission has us going out to reclaim a stolen relic from your noble house, right?".

"Yeah, I never thought Miklan would really steal that thing, but it looks like we're gonna have to take it back." The redhead responded.

Ai then stepped forward, "Are you really okay with fighting your own brother though? Ashe had to face Lonato and battle and he's been feeling down ever since."

"My brother's always been a sick dastard who hates me, so I'm actually looking forward to taking him down with everyone. You don't need to worry about anything, I can handle myself just fine." he smiles as he walks over to the fireplace area.

"Sylvain…" Ai sighed as she and Junko left the Knight's Hall.

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"I _am_ Ferdinand von Aegir after all, why wouldn't I know the perfect type of tea for you and Bernadetta?" the orange-haired noble exclaimed as he handed Byleth some Albinean Berry blend.

"I knew I could count on you for something like this. I thank you." the professor calmly states as he walks towards the dormitory.

He knocks on the door of a certain recluse and asks her if she'd like to have a tea party, and Bernadetta, while still reluctant, agrees. They meet outside in the garden area and sit at their table, enjoying each other's company through conversation and cake.

"I still find it weird how I'm not very frightened around you, though I was surprised when you walked into the Black Eagles classroom for the first time. Yet I am happy to have joined the Blue Lions, since I don't think Professor Manuela would have been as thoughtful as you. I mean, you went out of your way to get my favorite tea!" Bernie finishes and decides to take a sip of the tea, but it's still too hot.

Byleth gave her a small smile as he praised how well she was improving with her archery and how she could build upon her skills even more. The two continued their tea party until they ran out of sweets and they bid each other farewell until the next one. Byleth however decided to go check on a student who hasn't really been optimistic as of late.

Sakura sighed as she picked at her Peach Sorbet, still thinking of the Church executing people.

"Is something the matter?"

"Oh! Byle–I-I mean Professor! H-hi!"

"You've been feeling down ever since we've met up after the assault on the Holy Mausoleum, you can tell me." he explains as he sits down next to her

Sakura struggled to get the words out, "Well… it's complicated and I don't want to get in trouble with Lady Rhea or Seteth…"

"I promise not to tell anyone else about what is troubling you."

"Thank you, I appreciate it. So… I know that those guys from the Western Church attacked, yet it rubs me the wrong way that they were executed for their actions…"

"It is what it is, they did go against the Goddess's will after all."

"I know that, but still, I'm stuck wondering if The Church of Seiros are even the good guys. Sorry to bring up such a bad thought Professor."

"It's alright."

"I'll try to take my mind off of it so we can go on this next mission without much struggle. See you in class!"

Sakura walks away, leaving Byleth pondering on what to say on this topic next time.

SAKURA & BYLETH HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C

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"We've been looking through these books for ages, I really need to have some sleep…"

"We need to find SOMETHING on that staff or me and the girls will be stuck here, and we still need to save Saga!"

"You go on and on about saving it, but saving it from what exactly? You know what, I don't care, you'd probably start shouting again and I'm going to need some quiet…"

"Hm?" Tatsumi turns around and sees Linhardt already taking a nap.

The manager sighs as he wonders if there is a place to find books that aren't in this library…

At Conand Tower, the Blue Lions, plus Gilbert, are now taking action against the band of thieves led by Miklan. Linhardt was dragged to the mission so he wouldn't miss it.

"Don't hold back for my sake. My brother is going to pay for everything he's done." Sylvain says as he leads the charge up the tower.

The class pushes through each enemy quite easily, their growth is really showing. Though the students have gotten used to fighting thugs by now, so this isn't anything new for them.

"Here we go! Attack them from both sides!" A rogue tells his comrades as they surround the students.

"It's an ambush!" Gilbert says before going after multiple thieves.

Junko & Mercedes both use Nosferatu to take out a few, while Lily & Annette use Cutting Gale to tear through the rest. The four magic ladies high fived each other as the ambush had failed to make a dent in the team. They proceed and eventually reach Miklan, clutching the Lance of Ruin angrily and staring down Sylvain.

"Why have you come, you Crest-bearing fool?"

Sylvain, undeterred, speaks up against his brother, "I'm here for the Lance of Ruin, Miklan. Hand it over. I don't want to humiliate you, but I will."

"Hmph! Hurry up and die already. If not for you... If it hadn't been for you…"

"Shut up! I'm so tired of hearing that. You've always blamed me for something that isn't my fault." Sylvain shows some anger for the time, causing Ai to look over in concern.

"So you think you can take the lance from me, huh? I'll kill you... I'll kill every last one of you!"

Sylvain ducks under Miklan's swing of the lance and jabs his own lance into him. Ai decides to join in swinging her rarely-used blade into Miklan's side as the rest of the class show up to watch the battle.

"Not bad for your kind… A bunch of spoiled rotten children." the leader of the thieves states before he begins feeling some immense pain.

The Lance of Ruin begins glowing, with black and sticky energy spreading all around Miklan.

"What the hell?" he lets out as he tries and tries tearing it off of him, but is ultimately consumed by the mass as he screams in agony.

His fellow thieves begin to run, yet one falls down and looks up to see a hideous Black Beast grabbing him and throwing him against a wall, crumbling it down.

"Wh-what?!" Sakura reacts to the monster in front of her.

"What the– Miklan?! Is that you?!" Sylvain watches in shock.

"What a transformation…" Yugiri states with a hand over her mouth.

"So this is the power of a Hero's Relic. To create such a sinister beast… It has gone too far. I fear all we can do now is put an end to it." Dimitri tells his classmates.

A frightened Sakura questions her house leader "But how? Look at that thing? Are we really going to fight it?!".

"Looks like we have no choice. Let's bring this big guy down!" Saki charges in with Tae, Dedue, & Felix following her.

END OF CHAPTER 17

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x3


	18. Chapter 18: The Underground Passage

Third-Person POV

The giant Black Beast that used to be Miklan roared wildly as the students of the Blue Lions battled against it. The skin of that monster was still able to take a lot of hits, despite being attacked on all sides. Gilbert and Dedue guarded the archers and healers in the back, while the offense was still struggling to make a scratch on the thing.

"Ugh, why isn't this working?!" Saki said as she switched to her axe and swung it into the beast, which responded by hurling a large chunk of debris at her. She barely dodges the hit, but her axe is broken in the process.

Byleth switched from a steel sword to the Sword of the Creator and swung it at the Black Beast in its whip form. That manages to stagger the beast, at least for a bit, as Dimitri and Felix strike at the same time from the right & left. Tae then proceeds to bite down on the tail of the beast, causing it immense pain.

Lily cheers on the beast battlers by jumping up and down shouting "You can do it! You can do it!".

Dimitri rubs the back of his head awkwardly and smiles, before jumping back into the fray.

The Black Beast then begins to glow with red energy, getting ready to charge up a devastating attack.

"It's vulnerable, but not for long! Attack on all sides to break its guard!" Byleth gives the order as his students surround the beast.

They strike hard, not letting it unleash its deadly attack, managing to crack through the armor-like skin.

"It's weakened! Someone finish it!"

Unexpectedly, Sakura rushes in with her lance. She leaps forward and thrusts the tip of the lance into the stomach of the beast. It roared out in pain before beginning to collapse, but Sakura was still under it. Sylvain quickly rushes over to her side and tackles her out of the way of the fallen beast.

"Graaaargh!" the Black Beast let out as it died, dark energy leaving the lifeless body of Miklan and the Lance of Ruin.

"Goddess… The beast is gone, yet Miklan and the Lance remain." Gilbert looks on in shock.

Sakura looked over at the body of the thief leader, paralyzed where she was, with tears in her eyes, "It's just like back in Remire… I had to…" .

Dimitri then walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, "It's over. Let's retrieve the lance and leave this place.", He tells everyone.

Sylvain, stands up, still feeling the effects of his rescue, and walks over to pick up the Hero's Relic. "Miklan… my brother…" the redhead softly says to his perished sibling as he walked over to his class.

STAGE COMPLETE!

MVP: Sakura

Sakura's motivation is maxed out!

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"WHAT?! HEROES RELICS CAN TRANSFORM PEOPLE INTO MONSTERS?!"

Tatsumi was holding another meeting between him and Franchouchou, and he was taken aback by what he was told.

"Glad I managed to drop that staff thing before it could make me as ugly as that guy…" Saki looks back to when they were transported to Fódlan.

"Hey, I know he was a bad guy, but try not to speak ill of the dead! That's especially true for us!" Sakura yells, surprising the rest of the girls.

She sighs before getting up and walking towards the entrance to the library, "Sorry, I need some time to myself for a while.", she departs, leaving the others worried.

"Hm, I'll go check on her." Ai gets up and goes out the door.

Saki then decides to leave as well,"Tch, I was the one who provoked her, so I might as well apologize.".

Tatsumi shakes his head as he continues discussing what happened with the rest of the group.

The Heisei Idol and Dorami Member look around the Monastery for a bit, since it's nighttime there're not many students out.

"I'm kinda getting some deja-vu here with the way she's been acting…" Saki states before stopping to notice something.

"Huh, isn't that Edelgard?" Ai sees their friend talking with the future emperor of the Adrestian Empire.

Saki puts her arms behind her head and leans back, "She's probably giving her some kind of pep talk, just like we did back when she got her memories back. Let's just give her some space, that's what she wanted, right?".

Ai narrows her eyes a little before pondering if the princess is trustworthy. Edelgard then spots Byleth, Dimitri, and Claude calling her over for some reason. Curious, Sakura asks if she could come along with them, her professor agrees and she is brought along.

"What are those four doing up so late anyways?" Ai wonders.

"It's gotta be something serious, maybe they'll need help." Saki says as she sneakily follows.

"But, didn't you say that Sakura coul— ugh, never mind." The flower gal just followed too.

They snuck behind the five of them until they saw that there was a hole in a wall near the dormitories. The house leaders, Byleth, and Sakura debate whether or not to bring more people along with them, almost on cue Ashe, Hilda, and Linhardt walk up from behind them.

"Hey, you two! Don't think we can't see you back there! You feel like coming too, right?" Claude laughs as Ai and Saki have just been caught.

"Agh, found us out, huh? We were just wondering why you all are still awake this late and then after hearing about an intruder…" Ai started.

"I'm raring to go against some baddies, can't let MORE dangerous guys into this place, can we?" Saki finished with a grin on her face.

"Ha ha ha, you've got some fire in those eyes. I'm starting to like you, how 'bout you Sakura?" Claude asks.

"W-well, if it's okay with all of you, sure! I'll help take down whoever trespassed, but uh, let's just question them ok?" She says.

"You have our gratitude. Now then, let us be on our way. Ready, Professor?" Dimitri asks Byleth

"The more the merrier, I suppose. Let's just hope we're not all marching to our doom…" Claude says as he enters the dark passageway underground.

Unbeknownst to them, however, four individuals have heard news of a group heading down to their turf. And they're getting ready for a fight.

END OF CHAPTER 18

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x3 (no change)


	19. Chapter 19: Cindered Shadows Part 1

Sakura's POV

"What is even happening?! And what do I do?!"

That was what I was asking myself as we were under the Monastery, fighting a bunch of soldiers led by… the Ashen Wolves? Me, Saki, & Ai along with the three House Leaders, Professor Byleth, AND Linhardt, Ashe, and Hilda, decided to check out this underground pathway after Claude said he saw an intruder. I didn't expect to be fighting so late at night, but we're lucky that the Professor had some weapons on hand, (where does he even put those?).

"A fourth house living underneath Garreg Mach? This was highly unexpected." Ai ponders as she dodges a sword slash.

"That big guy looks REAL tough, this might be a little fun, makes staying up worth it!" Saki knocks a guy out as she charges towards that shirtless guy, who's only wearing a jacket over his muscled chest for some reason.

I sighed as I continued fighting on, until I heard Dimitri, "Sakura! Out of the way!", I dodged to the side away from that red headed girl's magic and saw a lever. I pulled it, but nothing happened! That guy with the purple hair mocked us, saying that only they knew how it worked, what a jerk!

"HA!" Saki threw a few punches right into the gut of that big shirtless guy and he was taking them! Though he did stagger a bit.

"Urgh… You've got some guts, I'll give you that much." He said, trying to stand up to continue as Saki grinned, looks like she has another training partner.

We took out a few more guys, leaving those two to keep fighting and then we saw the red head again.

"Come to think of it, there's an easier way to handle this. (sigh)"

And A BIG WORM MONSTER came out of nowhere as she ran away!

"W-W-WHAAAAAAAT?!" I screamed as I tried to run from that thing as rocks flew towards me.

I'm so lucky Byleth was there with his cool whip sword.

"T-thanks, I'm still not used to fighting stuff like this after Miklan." I told him.

"Then stay behind us for now and help take out the other rogues." Edelgard said, running up to me.

Claude and Dimitri followed her and Byleth, surrounding the monster before attacking all at once! It was amazing seeing the four of them do their thing, but I had to keep going so I ran ahead of them and I saw the redhead behind a door.

"Is it too late for me to back out of this fight? I don't want to hurt anyone. But in this case, I guess there's no avoiding it." She doesn't look like she wants to be there, but her magic attacks look so strong! I'm having a bit too much trouble here.

"Allow us to provide some assistance!" I heard Ashe say before I saw him and Ai shooting arrows at the other girl.

"Thanks guys!" I smiled at them, which they returned before I knocked down that redhead a bit too easily.

"This is... boring. Count me out." She stated as she walked away, at least we beat her.

The house leaders and the professor caught up to us after taking down some armored guys as we finally saw Saki joining with us again. We continued on until I saw a blonde, noble-looking girl on top of a pegasus. Next to her, was the smug purple-haired guy we saw earlier.

"We've got this, right Ashe?" Ai asked our classmate who nodded back at her.

That blonde girl shot out a HUGE ice spell that they were barely able to dodge and they fired arrows in her direction, but she dodged too!

"Tremble in fear of my magical might! Ahaha!" Man she sounds a little annoying, but she can definitely back that up.

She shoots fireballs at us, and it's times like this that makes me happy to see Linhardt. He's usually asking us a lot of questions about us being zombies, sleeping in class sometimes, or just spending time with Tatsumi in the library for some reason. After being healed, Byleth just responds back with his whip sword knocking her out of the sky.

"Nice one, Prof.!" Saki yelled as I saw Byleth smile, aww, looks like he's finally opening up!

We finally see the purple guy, holding his silver sword as me and Claude's classmate Hilda went after him, but he's fast! We couldn't get a single hit in on him before he just trips us both!

"Well, what do we have here? Some lost kids stumbling around in the dark. Stay awhile, won't you? Shame indeed not to have a bit of fun with each other while we've got the chance, you know?" He says calmly as he clashes with Dimitri.

"All of them are so tough!" I picked myself off the ground as I talked to Edelgard.

"Indeed, how can we not have known of these four until now?" She responded as Byleth steps in.

The two of them had a sword fight, kinda like in an old action movie, but this was real! I cheered on Byleth until he finally took down that guy and the four of them are together again. The muscle guy says his name was Balthus and then Hilda starts arguing with him, it looks like they know each other!

"Best way to acquaint yourself with someone is to get into a tussle with 'em. That's common sense right there." Balthus says, as a few of us shake our heads.

Ai decides to speak up next, "No, that's really not.", she pinches the spot between her eyes.

"That's the correct response for a reasonable person. We're not all as far gone as Balthus here." The purple-haired guy says, who I learned his name was Yuri later on.

They told us that someone was targeting Abyss, which was where we were right now. It doesn't look like these Wolf-people are bad, but we'll probably run into bad people from what they said. We followed them until we saw this small underground town, with some scary looking people. There was a bar, a big statue, a classroom, a… fortune teller room? Then there was this big library, which I found Linhardt in.

"Oh, Sakura. This is quite the collection of books, I'm sure that a lot of these are ones the Monastery threw out."

"Really? Why do you think that?"

"There's a lot of banned books here, and I haven't found a single one that wasn't already in the monastery! It doesn't look like I'll get any sleep tonight in here."

"Ha ha, yeah seems like it…" Hopefully I won't have to wake him up, or worse, carry him into battle.

"Oh! I almost forgot, me and your… manager? I think is what he calls himself? Anyways, we've been digging around the monastery library for a while now with no luck. But there's plenty of material here where we could maybe find information on that staff you found."

I was about to leave until I heard him, "Wait, that's what you've been doing with Tatsumi?!".

"Keep it down, we're in a library you know."

"S-sorry. You think we can really find something here on that?"

"I said, maybe, which means there is a chance we won't find anything here. Yet since we'll be down here for quite some time, I might as well indulge myself in finding anything useful."

"Alright, then let me know if you find anything Linhardt! Oops, too loud. Thanks."

He just picked up a book when I went out the door and I decided to go back to the classroom to meet these Ashen Wolves, well, meeting them outside of our fight of course.

END OF CHAPTER 19

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x3 (no change)

Constance von Nuvelle laugh count x1


	20. Chapter 20: Cindered Shadows Part 2

Third-Person POV

"Well now, it's that screaming girl from earlier, been exploring Abyss have you?"

Yuri waves at Sakura who just walked into the Ashen Wolves's classroom.

"Uh, yeah! You're Yuri, right? I'm Sakura!" She holds out her hand and he shakes it with his.

"You're correct, you're with the Blue Lions, right? Seeing as you were conversing with Dimitri in battle, you look to know him quite well. I was a part of that class years ago."

"Really? What a coincidence! Must be weird having this many new visitors down here."

"No kidding, but the more the merrier with what we're dealing with."

"Dealing with what, exactly?" Ai walked in with awfully chatty Saki & Balthus.

"You really did a number on me, but next time you won't see it coming! I'm not giving up my title as King of Grappling so easily!" The large man guffawed.

"I'll be gunning for your title big guy, ha ha! You'll be an even better training partner than that ass Felix!" The biker chick laughed with him.

"Well, to answer your question Ms., mercenaries have been attacking Abyss for quite a while, so we would appreciate your help in taking care of those intruders."

"Really? We'll help as best as we can, this is home to a lot of people, right?" Sakura gripped her fists, ready to help.

"Ha ha, indeed it is. And the Abyssians would definitely appreciate being rid of them." Yuri gave her a smile.

"I'm sure me and Balthus here can take 'em all out, right!"

"Right!" The two warriors pumped their fists in the air.

Ai sighed as she turned to Yuri, "I'll assist the people living here, but I just know that I don't trust you. You might be hiding something, just like how this city has been hidden."

"You're definitely not alone in thinking that way. And yes, I have a lot of secrets locked up inside, why don't you try to pick it open?"

Ai's eyebrows (Ai-brows?) lowered at his remark before going off to explore the rest of the town.

"I'll… go talk to my classmates about this. Ha ha…" Sakura awkwardly followed her out the classroom door.

Dimitri happened to be taking a stroll, but unfortunately ran into Sakura's path.

"Ah, my apologies. I should have warned you before you ran into me."

"No no, it's fine, Your Highness, I mean Dimitri!"

"Still I must apologize for my mistake. Though I did want to ask you about something regarding you and Edelgard."

"Really, what about me and her?" She looked at him curiously.

"I was just a bit worried that you might have been unhappy with the Blue Lions. I thought there was a possibility that you would have transferred out to the Black Eagles. You have been talking with Edelgard quite a lot recently."

"What? Of course not, I'm still quite happy with you guys! It's just been me and her becoming good friends, nothing like that Dimitri." Sakura waved her hands in front of her in assurance.

"Oof, that's a relief. I do enjoy your company, along with your friends as well. If you and the Professor weren't in our class, I don't think it would ever be the same."

"Aww, thanks. You're embarrassing me, I gotta get going, you're the best Dimitri!" She smiled before running off.

SAKURA AND DIMITRI HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL B

Byleth had finished walking around and gathering enough weapons for everyone and was handing them out to the students there.

"Hilda, are you sure you don't want to join the Blue Lions?"

"Well, you could convince me later on, but I still need to keep an eye on Claude. I have heard Marianne has been eager to join ever since Dimitri helped her out in your battle!"

"Is this true? I'll be sure to ask her if she is interested once we are done here."

Byleth now has another task once Abyss is protected.

"Professor, I was told you had some weapons I could use in the next battle?" Ai walked up to him as he handed her a steel bow, arrows, and a steel sword.

"You have my thanks for picking these. You do a lot of shopping on your own, let me know if you need help sometime, okay?" She sees Byleth nod as she prepares to go off on her own.

"And by the way, keep an eye on Yuri. The people here may trust him, but he seems like a sneaky type. Kind of like Claude."

"Hey, you're talking about me? Heh, I guess it is true, but you know how good of a guy I am, don't you?" Claude was right behind her as she said that.

"Ah yes, you and your strategic retreats, and putting things in people's food make me trust you a lot!" Ai looked to be in a bit of a bad mood, maybe she needed more sleep.

"Come on, it's not like I'll do it to you… unless I feel the need to."

"Uh-huh…" The two of them walked off as Claude continued to try and convince Ai.

Byleth just stood there in silence like he usually did before going back to what he was doing. A while later Yuri called everyone together in order to start their defense against the mercenaries. He decided an old arena should be the best location, but warned everyone to not do too much damage, or else Abyss would crumble along with it.

"Professor, for the next Certification Exam I take, I was thinking of being a Pegasus Knight like Ingrid wants to!" Sakura asks Byleth who agrees to let her take it as they fight on.

"In that case, Archer for me!" Ai tells him as she fires an arrow.

"Brawler!" Saki says as she punches a merc.

"It suits you! Maybe go for War Master once you're strong enough!" Balthus tells her as he sends a guy flying.

"That sounds awesome! I'll work for that one!" Saki grins as she takes out her axe.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha, what a chance to demonstrate my magical might!" Constance says as she soars upon her pegasus.

Linhardt yawned as Ai tapped him so he could stay awake, "Don't do this right now, we're in the middle of something."

"I know, I know. Actually this is perfect timing."

"For what? Ack!" She dodges incoming fire from the enemy.

"The staff that sent you girls here. There was some information on it in the library down here."

"What?!" Ai gets surprised by this before noticing something coming, "Hold that thought, hah!", she shoots an arrow at the figure before it bounces off his armor.

The figure walks into the light, revealing that the Death Knight had arrived.

"What is he doing here?!" Edelgard asked as Sakura turned to her, worried.

Dimitri gripped his lance before confronting the skull masked horseman."It doesn't matter, we have to protect the town!"

END OF CHAPTER 20

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x3 (no change)

Constance von Nuvelle laugh count x2

**WE'VE MADE IT TO 20 CHAPTERS! I really appreciate everyone who bothers reading this thing. It was a dumb concept, yet the story has managed to get so much attention. I couldn't be more proud of my first fanfiction. Thank you all! And remember that I always appreciate feedback in the forms of comments/reviews. Hope you look forward to the rest of the Cindered Shadows arc!**


	21. Chapter 21: Cindered Shadows Part 3

Third-Person POV

"I have no time for this. To your grave!"

The Death Knight called out as he knocked Dimitri away and Byleth steps in to assist. The armored reaper clashes with the Ashen Demon as the others continue to rid themselves of the intruders.

Hapi, not a bit worried, says, "It would be too much trouble to take on that guy. Better focus on the weaker ones.", as she unleashes Swarm Z upon some poor entomophobic ruffian.

Sakura and Edelgard run towards the Faerghus Prince to check on him, "I don't care what brought you here. Withdraw. Now.", the white-haired princess told the Death Knight, who just ignores her.

"Are you okay?" The egghead idol asked Dimitri who nodded before picking up his lance again to rejoin the fray.

The bodies of many foes were left on the arena floor as they kept piling on. Spells were cast, arrows flew, blades clashed against each other, so much was happening at once. The silver-haired Ashe was trying so hard to keep up with the fast pace of the battle that he left himself open to a sneak attack.

Luckily Ai was at the right angle to fire away, "Heads up!", an arrow landed into the mercenary's back, eliminating him.

"Thanks!" Ashe calls out as he goes to help Hilda against two mercs.

"As you were saying?" The Heisei Idol asks Linhardt as he heals up Constance using Physic.

"Hm? Oh right. Well it's not a listed relic among the monastery's collection, but it is known as the Staff of Fodra. This may sound a bit familiar to you, but the staff is able to warp objects and people through the use of a vortex."

"You said this information came from the Abyssian library, correct? Why was this information hidden down here of all places?" Ai takes out her blade and cuts down a female mercenary.

"There's just so many books that the church decides to get rid of for whatever reason. It is fortunate that I was able to discover a page dedicated to it while browsing. You're welcome, by the way." He tells her nonchalantly as she lowers her eyebrows at him.

"Thanks I guess, yet we still need to find out the staff's whereabouts. As well as finding out how to use it to send us back home. A name and a description can only go so far, Lindhart."

"True… I guess that gives me another excuse to continue browsing that underground treasure trove of research." Lin gives a small smile before dropping it when he sees the blood on Ai's sword and slowly fades.

"Oh no, we're not doing this now." Ai picks him up before he hits the floor and slaps him awake.

Thankfully, the battle nears its end thanks to the efforts of the hard hitting Saki and Balthus, laying waste to anyone who attacked them. In addition, Constance and Hapi have been doing well in their uses of magic, especially the former with the added mobility. Byleth's Sword of the Creator was then swung wildly in the form of the Ruptured Heaven move, taking out many of the remaining opponents at once, and even dealing good damage to the Death Knight.

"Your skills with that sword continue to excite me, but I've indulged too much. I take my leave. For now." He teleports away as Byleth and Dimitri grit their teeth, seeing as they've failed to defeat him yet another time.

"Honestly! What a nuisance." Edelgard shakes her head as Sakura looks at her, wondering if she knows something. Well, until she sees a leftover approaching the Ashen Wolves's leader from behind , "Ack! Yuri, look out!"

"Hm?" He turns around after talking with one of the Abyssian rogues.

"I ain't going down without a fight! I'm taking you with me, punk!" The one mercenary rushes towards him, but is stopped by the sudden appearance of a long-haired monk in a black and red robe. "I will not allow it.", he says restraining him.

"Aelfric, you're here! Well, shall we capture this fool?" Yuri smirks as the others stand down after fighting.

STAGE COMPLETE!

MVP: Byleth

…

The Ashen Wolves run up to greet their guardian after the battle as the surface-dwelling students introduce themselves to Aelfric.

"So you look after this place?" Saki simply asked him.

"Indeed. And despite my responsibilities, I am but a humble monk. I am sure you have already been told about Abyss's unique situation. For varying reasons, all of the inhabitants here are unable to live a peaceful life on the surface. People like the Dagdans and Almyrans, who suffer undue persecution across Fódlan."

"Dagdans and Almyrans?" Sakura tilted her head after hearing that.

"I'll explain them to you afterwards." Dimitri whispered so he couldn't interrupt Aelfric as he kept talking.

"Right. And the poor and sick living in a sunless crypt helps them... how?" Claude jokes.

"Enough Claude. Please forgive my friend, Aelfric. We would love to hear more." Dimitri tells his fellow house leader.

"In all honesty, I understand his concern. I dearly wish I could provide a better life for my flock."

He then goes on to talk about how many of the members of the Church of Serios, including Lady Rhea have grown a distance for Abyss's existence. To the point where some wish to be rid of it altogether.

"That's the church for you. They make a big deal out of helping the helpless... when it suits them." Hapi stated bluntly, causing Sakura to fidget over her insecurity about the church and Edelgard to put a hand on her shoulder.

Aelfic turned to Byleth next,"As for you Professor, I must beg a favor of you."

"What's the favor?" The instructor asked.

"The Ashen Wolves are a house in name alone. They are eager students with no teacher to guide them..."

"So you're looking to have him be their instructor, am I correct?" Ai briefly interrupted him.

The Wolves questioned his decision, but their guardian assured them that he would assist them well. He even brought up that he knew Byleth's mother, surprising the young Professor. After Byleth agreed to help teach the fourth house, the whole group decided to return to the Monastery for now.

…

Before then however, the Professor asked Aelfric if they could meet up to discuss his mother. Unbeknownst to them, one of his students was waiting outside for him to finish up.

"He sounded very passionate when talking about your mother. Almost like he was infatuated with her, he did mention he wished to be like Jeralt." Ai informed him.

"What are you getting at?" was his response.

"I'm saying that despite his display of kindness towards us and his 'flock', that smile of his doesn't reach his eyes. And unlike Claude, or Yuri, I don't sense any joking personality in him."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, though he trusts me to take the Ashen Wolves under my wing, and that's what I will do."

"(sighs) Just be sure that you know what you're getting yourself into. With so many students to focus on, that makes it harder to teach. Don't push yourself too hard, if you need assistance, you know where my dorm is." The two of them nod to each other as they make their way towards the surface with the others.

Though when they reach the monastery, they are greeted by both the sun, and by Seteth.

"There you all are! Where have you been?"

"Uh-um, you see..." Sakura was stammering.

"Never mind, we can address this later, I need your assistance, my sister Flayn has gone missing!"

END OF CHAPTER 21

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x3 (no change)

Constance von Nuvelle laugh count x2

**We'll continue the Cindered Shadows as the story goes on. Like after a few main story chapters, we'll come back to Abyss to hang with the Wolves and Aelfric. Hope you all continue reading as Three Houses Saga continues on!**


	22. Three Houses Saga Q&A Session

_**Hey readers, it's RenegadeBraveheart, and today I'm joined here with Blue Lions members, Sylvain, Junko, and Linhardt!**_

**Sylvain: How's it goin'?**

**Junko: Good day, everyone.**

**Linhardt: Zzzzz…**

_**Hey, wake up!**_

**Linhardt: Eh? Oh, hello people reading this.**

_**Hmph. Anyways, we're here to answer ALL questions about Three Houses Saga: White Clouds. From character interactions, to story progression, we're here to answer all that you throw at us.**_

**Junko: Um, except for spoilers for things to come.**

**Linhardt: Indeed. Although people who have played the game already know what happens.**

_**Regardless, they don't know EVERYTHING with how this story has been going so far. So ask away, leave reviews/comments on what you're curious about. You could also leave your opinions on how the story has been going so far. And we have two questions for you all as well!**_

**Sylvain: Yup! What's your favorite moment in the story so far? Did it have me in it?**

**Linhardt: Scratch that last one, how about...what are your predictions of future events?**

**Junko: Much better. We'll be waiting for your responses on , , and . Thank you all so much.**

_**I second that Junko, this story is just getting started, and we're at 21 chapters! I really appreciate all the love this story gets and I hope you keep reading! See you all next time when we answer the questions! And look forward to the next chapter too!**_


	23. Chapter 22: Oh What a Knight

_**Alright! It's time to answer the first question we have received!**_

**Linhardt: This better be interesting enough, or else I'll go back to sleep.**

_**Please don't. Anyways, let's do this!**_

**Sylvain: Ok, first one here is from Metal Vile on , whatever that is. We've got a big one right away!**

**Junko: What is it?**

**Linhardt: Pairings for the girls, huh?**

**Junko: Well, I don't think any of us are thinking about that kind of stuff right now. We're just trying to get through our first year at the academy.**

**Sylvain: Hold on there. You have been hanging around Ashe for a while…**

**Junko: W-what?! H-he's just a good friend!**

**Linhardt: That's right, ever since our first mission with the bandits they've been interacting quite a few times. The battle with Lord Lonato as well, you've been worrying about him before, during, and afterwards.**

**Sylvain: True! It looks like we've got some sweethearts at the monastery, ha ha.**

_**Please stop you two, she's turning red. Can we just move on and stop bothering her?**_

**Junko: T-thank you…**

**Sylvain: I won't drop this, y'know Renegade? Especially if you're gonna keep hinting at this in the story. They are cute together.**

_**SYLVAIN**_

**Sylvain: Fine fine, second part… class progression.**

_**Ok, that's a good one. **_

_**Sakura has been prone to use a lance in this story, and the mention of becoming a pegasus knight supports her use of it. She'll need to learn how to ride one though, so look forward to her attempts. **_

_**Saki is quite obvious with her weapon choices and her team up with Balthus has helped her see the future master class, War Master as her one and only. **_

_**Ai used the bow so often, and with her better senses she can really pull it off. The usage of a blade for close range gives some insight into what class she'll choose after archer. Archery and sword techniques, hm…**_

**Junko: As for me, I've been making good use of faith magic. Perhaps I could go into healing to support everyone?**

_**That's not a bad idea. Like a bishop or priest. Though another skill could be useful to you. Hm… lance & riding, or reason magic…**_

**Linhardt: Can we continue please?**

_**Ah! Sorry. Ahem, Lily's been doing well with reason magic and she's going to get even better! She could get another skill, but as of right now she'll just be a powerful little mage.**_

_**Tae is… difficult. She has an axe, but I have no idea how she could develop skills with it.**_

**Linhardt: Would the warrior class work then? She could be a berserker that our enemies might fear.**

_**I'll keep that in mind. Try to see if that could work out in the upcoming fights.**_

_**Yugiri, definitely has some impressive skills with a sword. I am thinking that she should practice with Lily and gain some magic skills to compliment them. Close range and long range will make her dangerous on the battlefield.**_

**Sylvain: Yeesh, no kidding. I've seen her fight, and that will make her slightly terrifying. Glad she's on our side.**

_**Speaking of sides, last part… the war.**_

**Linhardt: Oh boy…**

_**I won't say anything right now, but I have it all planned out. Including the Flame Emperor reveal. Look forward to them seeing Dimitri go crazy. One more thing I should mention, Azure Moon will be a seperate fanfiction from this, as you might have found out by the subtitle of this fic.**_

**Linhardt: Why not just have it all in one and change the name back to Three Houses Saga?**

**Junko: I think that idea isn't too bad. It's like a two book series, or movie. And with a story this big…**

**Sylvain: Don't know what a movie is, but yeah agreed. You can't just pack all of those chapters into one thing. Gotta save some space!**

_**Thanks for the questions Metal Vile and for reading. And for others, feel free to send us more questions and we'll be sure to answer, now onto the story!**_

Third-Person POV

Linhardt, Ai, & Sakura are in the middle of the search for Flayn. The entire monastery is full of students looking for clues on her whereabouts. During their investigation however, the three have a conversation about something that has been on the girls' minds for quite a while.

"So crests are not only sources of power, but they are seen as important for being recognized as noble? That sounds… problematic." Ai says as she thinks about the new information.

"Yeah… people shouldn't be treated differently if they don't have power granted to them by the Goddess. That sounds so unfair to anyone without a crest…" Sakura sadly lowers her head.

"(yawns) It may be unfair, but that is unfortunately how things are. It could take years for people to change their minds about crests. Is that all you wanted to know?" Linhardt asks, wiping the drowsiness from his eyes.

"For now, but I may come back to you with more questions if necessary. Now let's keep looking. Sakura!" Ai quickly raised her voice to snap her back to reality.

"Ah, right! Flayn?!" She cried out as Ai lowered her eyebrows in suspicion.

The three of them kept walking until they found Dimitri and Professor Hanneman carrying an unconscious Professor Manuela.

"What happened Dimitri?!" Sakura, panicked at the knocked out teacher.

"She's been stabbed, we found her in Professor Jeritza's quarters. We're helping her get to the infirmary, while the others are still there." The Prince states as Hanneman takes a breather.

"Professor Hanneman, let me handle this. I'll help carry her there as well." Ai stepped forward and Dimitri nodded.

Lifting Manuela's arm over her shoulder, Ai, along with Dimitri, quickly made their way to the infirmary. Professor Hanneman in pursuit to help guide them.

"C'mon Lin, let's go join the others!"

"Oh boy…"

Sakura dragged Linhardt over to Jeritza's quarters as Byleth and a couple of other Blue Lions were making their way down into a secret passage.

When the two of them finally made it down, they were immediately thrown into the middle of a battle with the Death Knight and his forces. The students continued striking down their foes until they managed to reach the armored reaper himself.

Byleth clutched the Sword of the Creator in his hands, "I'll take care of him. Go finish off the remaining troops!", he commanded his students as he approached the Death Knight.

"Oi, Felix! Got a stray sniffing your tail!" Saki called out to her rival who was in the middle of a duel.

"What?! Hah!" He swiped back at the sneak attacker before continuing his match.

Tae and Dedue successfully manage to take down soldiers surrounding Annette and Sakura, who then notices her teacher struggling, "Byleth!" she cries out before charging in to help.

"Now, you will die together… How joyous…" The knight let out in his chilling voice as the Professor clashed against his scythe.

"Sakura, I said to stay back!" He yelled, yet she still came in to help.

"Get away, hyah!" She tosses her lance at the Death Knight who just takes the hit and fires back with a dark magic attack.

Sakura is knocked to the ground, struggling to get back up, but luckily her throw managed to distract him enough for Byleth to land the final attack.

"Kill them." The Death Knight orders what remaining troops he has left as Byleth grits his teeth.

Suddenly another armored figure appears out of nowhere to prevent this, "Halt. You're having a bit too much fun."

"You are getting in the way of my game." The knight responds.

"Hmph. You'll have more opportunities to play soon. Your work here is done." The unknown intruder commands him.

"Understood. I will go…" The Death Knight obeys, as he leaves the same way the other figure entered.

Sakura looks upon the newcomer with fear, yet feels an odd sense of familiarity from them.

"We will cross paths again, I am the Flame Emperor… It is I who will reforge the world."

The Flame Emperor stares at both Byleth and Sakura intensely before vanishing. After they have gone, the rest of the class run up to Sakura to check on her status. She was healed up by Linhardt and Mercedes, but was taken to the infirmary for rest.

Hours later she had a few visitors. Well, by a few, I mean Ai, Saki, Kotaro, Dimitri, Byleth, and Flayn.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Ai asked and Sakura nodded.

"You really did a number on that ghastly knight, I am grateful to have joined your class!" Flynn bowed, thankful for her help.

"What you did out there was reckless, but I am grateful for the assistance. Hopefully you'll be ready next month." Byleth gave a small smile to her in response.

"Yeah you did great Saku—wait wha?" Saki turned to him.

"What's happening next month?" Sakura asked, prompting Dimitri to respond.

"The Battle of the Eagle and Lion, we have mentioned it back during our first sparring session, haven't we? Where all three houses of the Officers Academy compete in one large mock battle?"

"Oh yeah! So much has happened since then, sorry ha ha…" She rubs the back of her head embarrassed.

"Yeah same here. Still, I can't wait to brawl with all of them again! Show how stronger we are than them!" Saki gripped her fist.

"With how much time has passed since then, we can't underestimate our opponents. They may have a greater strategy than us by now…" Ai ponders.

"Oh yeah, well I'll find a way to beat 'em somehow! I'll head to the training ground to see if anyone wants to spar as practice!" Saki runs off as Ai sighs and goes off towards her & Tae's room.

"May you recover quickly, I need to take care of some business." Dimitri says as he leaves.

"Once again, thank you for assisting in my rescue. See you in class Sakura!" Flayn waves goodbye which Sakura returns.

Sakura then sighs as she looks upon the two still left in there with her.

"What's up?!" Kotaro asks her loudly.

She turns away from him, "N-nothing…"

He then scoffs and marches off, but stops himself outside the door to listen in.

"I can tell it's not nothing. You're still thinking about them, right?" Byleth looked upon Sakura who solemnly nodded.

"The Flame Emperor, who wants to 'reforge the world', just who is that?"

END OF CHAPTER 22

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x3 (no change)

**We're back. And the build up to the Battle of the Eagle and Lion has begun. Next time, we'll see some support convos and some of the girls upgrading their classes. See you all then!**


	24. Chapter 23: Preparations and Separations

Third-Person POV

"Please welcome your new classmate, Marianne von Edmund." Byleth addressed the class as they all clapped for the blue-haired maiden.

"Thank you for making such a decision, we are all honored to have you in our class Marianne." Dimitri bows and she hesitantly does the same.

"We'll be sure to assist you with adjusting to this new class. I hope we can manage to please you Lady Edmund." Yugiri bowed as well as Marianne sat in the seat next to her.

"Now then, The Battle of the Eagle and Lion is approaching at the end of this month. So do your best to train hard for the occasion. Let the lesson begin!" Byleth opened up a book as the students listened to his seminar.

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After the class ended...

"Flame Emperor…" Sakura kept repeating to herself over and over again.

"Sakura, pull up!" Ingrid called out to her, snapping the egghead back to reality.

"AHHHHH!" She screamed before doing what her classmate told her to do, pulling up before she and her pegasus made a crash landing.

"T-thanks, sorry about that." A bead of sweat rolls down her face as she sighed.

"Are you sure that you're up to this? It's not easy learning how to be a Pegasus Knight, maybe something more simple could be better?" Ingrid suggested, but the redheaded idol shook her head.

"I am, and I think I can do it. Just need more practice before the big battle at the end of the month." Sakura slapped her cheeks to psych herself up to continue.

Ingrid smiled as she flew right next to her, "I like your spirit. But let's try flying, without daydreaming, okay?"

"Ha ha…" Sakura embarrassingly laughs as the two of them trained in the skies.

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"Ai, there you are. I wanted to apologize for my behavior some time ago." Sylvain greeted her as she walked into his room.

"You're talking about what happened in the dining hall, correct? That was some time ago, you don't need to apologize. In fact I should be the one apologizing." She placed her hand to her chest and sighed.

His eyes widened after hearing that, "Wait, what? Is it about that baguette bludgeoning thing you said? It's all water under the bridge now."

"Still, I was wrong to assume you were just a philanderer or a flirt, especially after what happened with your brother."

"It's not uncommon for people to think that of me, so no harm done for doing the same. And Miklan, even if I mourned for him, deserved his fate. Nothing more to say about it."

"Well, I hope the two of us can manage to get along much better, despite getting off on the wrong foot."

"Same here. Come to me if there's someone flirting with you, who's not me. Or… if you need anything else."

"I'll keep that in mind for the near future, thank you Sylvain."

AI AND SYLVAIN HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL B

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"Oh! That's Junko, it looks like she's struggling, I'll go help her out!" Ashe ran over to help his classmate.

"A-Ashe! Um, thank you." The shy Showa idol told him, while holding up groceries.

"No need for thanks. I saw that you were in need of assistance and I gave it to you!" He smiles back at her.

"You really are too kind. That's a great quality to have." Junko said as the two of them walked back to the Monastery.

"I agree, that's why I want to become a knight, so I can continue to help people like this all the time."

"I'm sure you'll be a wonderful knight one day, Ashe."

"Aw, thanks Junko. Oh! If you'd like, I could show you some of the chivalrous stories that inspired me! They really are that interesting." Ashe's eyes lit up with excitement.

"That sounds lovely, if I have free time, I'll be sure to let you know. Ah, we're at the dining hall, I can handle it from here. Once again thanks for your help!" She smiles and waves to him who waves back, happy to have saved her the trouble.

ASHE AND JUNKO HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL C

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While everyone else was cleaning up after the fishing tournament, Saki was at the training grounds, with Byleth (already caught the fish Flayn desired) looking on, though an unexpected visitor showed up with some news.

"Hey! Teach!"

Claude von Riegan arrived, smiling as usual, as he greeted the Blue Lions Professor.

"Hey, uh Claude, right?" Saki stopped and looked over to greet him.

"That's right. Listen, I just got word that since the Blue Lions have the most students, some of you either have to sit out, or temporarily join the other classes during the battle."

"Wait, what?!" Saki's jaw dropped after hearing this.

"I see. That is understandable, but I need to ask some of my students if any of them are willing to do either. Hm…" Byleth pondered for a minute as Claude looked over at the former's student.

"Hey Saki, the Golden Deer could use another powerhouse to make up for the loss of our healer. You up to fight on our side this time?"

"I dunno. Feels kinda wrong to be fighting against my friends, y'know?" Saki turned her attention back to the training dummy and began hitting it again.

"Well, the offer's open until next week. This would be a good opportunity to finally beat Felix though, I have seen you sparring against him a lot."

Saki stopped for a moment and turned to him "Good point, but I'll think about it. Next week is plenty of time."

"Great, I'll be waiting for ya! And I'll be waiting for you at Gronder Field, Teach." Claude put his arms behind his head and walked off as Byleth nodded to him.

"Golden Deer, huh?" Saki said to herself as she kicked the dummy.

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Byleth approached Sakura, Ai, & Tae about this decision and like Saki, they were quite surprised.

"This change could lead to a much different battle that we anticipated…" Ai said, her fingers to her chin.

"Hm, and what do you think, Sakura? Do you wish to be on another side for just one battle?" Byleth asked her.

"That sounds like a good learning experience, and it's fair to the other classes, but fighting you guys? I need more time on this..." As she thought about it, Edelgard and Hubert happened to pass by.

"Professor, have you asked your students if they wanted to temporarily join the Black Eagles?" Edelgard asked Byleth.

"It seems Lady Edelgard has already got her eye on someone." Hubert gazed at Sakura who was spooked.

Ai lowered her eyebrows at him, "Sakura needs more time to think it over. We'll let you know when she comes to a decision."

"Very well. I wish you luck, with whatever choice you make. Though we will manage to defeat you all swiftly. Hm?" Edelgard began to walk off, but then spotted Tae scarfing down food from the dining hall, "Perhaps she could benefit from a temporary allegiance change as well. Farewell."

"_Tae as well?_" Ai thought to herself as she watched Edelgard and Hubert go their own way.

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"The Battle of the Eagle and Lion? You want us to participate in that thing?" Hapi asked, eating a pastry.

"I did participate while on the Blue Lions in the one I was in, sure I'll lend a hand this year." Yuri smirked.

"Count me out, that stuff isn't really that interesting to me." Hapi bluntly stated.

"I would have gladly offered to assist, though I have some magical research to attend to on that day…" Constance frowned.

"You're just saying that because you don't want to be out in the sun, do you? Oh well, the King of Grappling shall join the fight instead! I can't wait to brawl against these new students!" Balthus guffawed as Byleth thanked both him and Yuri for their help.

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"Hmmm..."

Junko manages to successfully uses Physic and heals a student's cut from quite a distance.

"I did it?" She opens her mouth in surprise when she find out it works.

"Y-you did well!" Marianne nervously congratulates her.

"Indeed, didn't take me that long, but you are still learning. Tell me, did the world you girls come from have any magic of some kind?" Linhardt approached his white-haired classmate.

"W-wait what?" Marianne is taken aback by that last sentence.

"Oh my, nobody's told her yet, well you see…" Linhardt goes on to explain everything to Marianne who gets more confused by the second, while Junko tries to reassure her.

"Cutting Gale?" Yugiri asks Annette.

"Yes! That's the next one after Wind. Reasoning magic can really help you hit long range targets that your sword can't reach!" Annette pumped her fists.

"Truly? Well then Lady Dominic, may you show me?" Yugiri grins.

"Big sis Yugiri! Annie's really great at this, so you're gonna learn lots from her!" Lily cheered.

"Aww, Lily. You're making me blush ha ha ha!" Annette plays with her hair in embarrassment.

"Felix? Are you ready?" Ai asked, wooden blade in her hand.

"I'm pretty sure he's ready for something else." Sylvain, taking a break, smirked as he saw Felix glancing over at Annette.

"It's nothing, Professor!" He turns to look at Ai and prepares to spar.

"Begin!" Byleth yells, causing Felix and Ai to clash.

Felix was obviously the more experienced when it came to swords, but Ai was trying her hardest to keep up with the young noble. Neither of them left any big openings for the other to strike and the training swords did not falter.

"Haaaa!" Ai uses one final jab and finds success after such a stalemate.

"Impressive. But you need to work on finding weak spots quicker, if you want to use a sword more often." Felix sheathed his training blade.

"I appreciate the advice. Do you want to go again?" Ai asked as she sheathed hers.

"Sure, we need all the practice we can possibly get." Felix responded as he stretched.

"Professor! We've come to a decision!" Sakura, Saki, and Tae enter the training ground.

"So I decided to go ride with the Golden Deer, while Egghead & Tae go with the Black Eagles." Saki explained as the others walked forward.

"Sorry, but I don't want to overpower the other two houses. But I'm sure you guys can still pull through this!" Sakura gripped her fists and Tae mimicked her.

"I see. Well, just know that we won't hold back out there. This is what our training has led up to, so there's no way we're failing." Dimitri says and the others agreed.

"The fact that we have a powerful tactician like the Professor is sure to be trouble for you, yet we know how far all of us have come. We shouldn't underestimate what you three can do without us." Ai made a thinking pose.

"Well then, Blue Lions, stay focused. No matter who we face, we need to keep our heads held high and fight on!"

Everyone raised their fist into the air and afterwards, continued to train, until that fateful day. The 27th of the Wyvern Moon. The Battle of the Eagle and Lion.

END OF CHAPTER 23

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x3 (no change)

**The time has come. Three Houses duke it out at Gronder Field next time… also after the battle is over War for the Weak will be the battle before the Remire Village revisit.**


	25. Chapter 24: Eagle, Lion, Deer Part 1

Third-Person POV

As an eagle sounds off from above, and the horns blare across Gronder Field, the three armies representing Fódlan's future prepare for a fight.

The Prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus steps forward, "You all should know… I am not about to go easy on you today." Dimitri readys his lance, and the Blue Lions fall in behind him. Dedue, Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, Mercedes, & Ashe. Along with their new companions, Junko, Yugiri, Lily, Leonie, Balthus, & Yuri who stand beside each other in the crowd.

Ai steps forward, serious expression on her face while preparing her weapons. Next to her is her teacher, Byleth, and his reluctant adjutant Bernadetta. Dimitri's adjutant, Marianne, inches next to him, a worried look on her face as she looks toward her former class.

The next leader of the Leicester Alliance and current Golden Deer leader, Claude speaks next, "As long as we can pull off the win, doesn't matter how.", twirling his bow as his companions join him. Hilda, Ignatz, Raphael, Lorenz, Lysithea, and joining them is Saki, grinning at the scale of her next rumble.

Sakura gulps atop her pegasus as she and Tae look at the other sides, the former with slight nervousness. The future empress of the Adrestian Empire pats her on the back, as the Black Eagles join the two zombie girls. Ferdinand (von Aegir), Dorothea, Caspar, Hubert, & Petra look on as Edelgard says her piece, "Our victory must be absolute… no matter what it may take.".

Byleth raises the Sword of the Creator into his hands and looks towards the cliffside, where Lady Rhea and Seteth stood.

"It is time." Seteth calls for the battle to begin.

"Forward! Now!" Edelgard commands as the Black Eagles move.

Dimitri points his lance towards their opponents, "For honor!" he yells, and the Blue Lions charge.

Claude raises his hand forward to signal the Golden Deer and they follow through.

(Insert Song: Blue Skies and a Battle)

"Good luck everyone!" Annette cheered from the sidelines alongside Flayn.

"Zzzz…" Linhardt dozed off next to them, prompting the two of them to sigh. 

"Head for the central platform, from there you can take control of the ballista. We'll cover you." Byleth tells Ai as she fires an arrow into an imperial archer..

Two more soldiers are above her and attack, yet she manages to switch to her sword and fight them off. As she stepped up towards the top of the platform she looked to her right, and spotted Ferdinand with her great kinetic vision.

"Ferdinand's approaching the platform, I need someone to cover me!" She shouted to her teammates.

"Allow me." Dedue, in his heavy armor, raises his shield to defend against the noble of House Aegir.

"Tch, I am Ferdinand von Aegir (*ding*), and I shall not fail my team today! HAH!" Although his lance failed to affect his large opponent, he kept up with dodging.

"Sakura, can you and Hubert handle the approaching Blue Lions?" Edelgard asked her companion who gave a slight nod.

"I'll be sure to try my best, even though they're my own class." Sakura gulps before taking off on her pegasus, with Hubert in pursuit.

Edelgard looks to her right and sees Tae chewing on her axe, and she's taken aback by this, before recomposing herself.

"Shall we join them, Dorothea, Tae?" Edelgard asks the opera singer to her left as she raises her own axe.

"With pleasure, Edie!" Dorothea answers as the three of them went forward.

The students of the Kingdom and Empire were feuding as the Alliance group began their assault.

Claude spots the sight and thinks, "The Black Eagles and Blue Lions are fighting... Maybe we can sneak right past them."

Saki knocks down a few kingdom soldiers before spotting Felix, Balthus, and Caspar on the field. Fire in her eyes, she makes a mad dash towards the Black Eagles' resident brawler first.

Claude scratches his head at that, as he turns and sees Lorenz heading to the central hill along, causing him to sigh.

"Ha ha, I've gotten a lot tougher since we last met. I couldn't wait to fight ya again!" Caspar greeted her with a right hook to the face.

The biker gang leader simply smiled as she gripped a fist and gave him a punch of her own, "Feeling's mutual! Let's have a REAL good brawl now!"

They really roughed each other up. A strike to the gut sent Saki back a few feet, but she just ran back towards him with a flurry of gauntlet punches. They both switched to their axes and swung for the fences, clashing until they ended up breaking. Switching back to fisticuffs, the blonde and Bergliez were evenly matched, until Saki finally landed one more uppercut on Caspar.

He is knocked flat on his back with spirals in his eyes, the first Black Eagle student to be eliminated. "Thanks for the match, hope you can join my class so we can have another one. Now where's that dark-blue-haired prick?" Saki takes a quick look and sees Felix fighting off Petra in a duel, "There you are…" she smirks.

As she slowly makes her way towards him and Caspar is brought off the field to recover, we rejoin the Lions in their conflicts.

"Ha, this brings back memories. So what's your name, beautiful?" Yuri swings his rapier to counter Lorenz's lance.

"I am called Yugiri. And I may refer to you as?" The courtesan uses the spell she just learned on the House Gloucester noble.

"Call me Yuri. You seem pretty skilled, care to assist me with some problems underground?" Yuri asks as he uses Nosferatu.

"What do you mean by that?" Yugiri responds as they take out Lorenz together.

"You'll see…" The Ashen Wolves' leader smirks as Lorenz grumbles in defeat, "Ugh, me of all people, really? This early into the battle?"

"Ack!" Ashe is almost knocked off of his Wyvern as Hubert hits him with Fire.

"Hold on, Ashe!" Junko & Mercedes both use Physic to fully heal the silver-haired student.

"Hoo, I could have taken an unwanted swim there. Thank you both!" He waves as he moves away from the river.

"No problem." Junko responds.

"Hm? Oh my, Junko, why are your cheeks red?" Mercie giggles and the Showa idol's blush spreads to her whole face. The focus is then shifted to Lily who her enemies think is vulnerable, until she unleashes a brand new spell.

"Bolganone!" She shouts as flames surround the Alliance soldiers, forcing them to drop out.

"Impressive, and you're even younger than I am." A voice says as across from Lily stands Lysithea von Ordelia of the Golden Deer, right hand glowing as she uses Miasma Δ.

Lily barely manages to get out of the way as she looks back at her, "Hey! No fair! Lily wasn't ready yet!"

"Your reason magic is great for your age, yet you look like you need to mature quite a bit. You're using your name instead of normal pronouns!" The white-haired mage told her younger peer.

"Like you're one to talk! Lily saw you stuffing cake into your mouth by the garden yesterday!" Lily shouts at her, causing Lysithea to be embarrassed.

"W-why you—!" The youngest students of the Officers Academy duked it out as they argued about acting their age.

Back with Ferdinand, he tries to rush up to the central hill, but once again is blocked by Dedue.

"Firing…. NOW!" Ai uses the ballista to shoot at the orange-haired noble.

"Agh… huh?" He looks up to see Dedue above him, "I yield…what an impressive showing by both of you.".

Ferdinand bows out and Sakura turns her attention to Ingrid & Sylvain after witnessing that elimination.

"Hubert, can you cover me? I'm going for Ingrid." She tells Edelgard's retainer who nods back at her.

Sakura and Ingrid fight in the skies above Gronder Field, a dance of two pegasuses with the constant thrusts of lances between them. As Sakura manages to gain the upper hand, she spots Byleth and Dimitri, along with their adjutants heading towards Dorothea, Edelgard, and Tae.

"Stay focused!" Ingrid tells her classmate who dodges just in time.

"S-sorry! Hah!" Sakura lands one more hit, staggering her (current) enemy.

"Ingrid!" Sylvain calls out to his childhood friend as he gets hit by another magic attack.

"Ha ha, you should learn to stay focused as well, Gautier." Hubert laughs as he manages to take out the distracted Blue Lion easily.

"HERE I GO!" A critical hit from Sakura takes down Ingrid, grounding her.

"It looks like your training has paid off, a good duel, Sakura." The two of them shake hands as Sakura hops back onto her winged steed and takes off to continue their battle.

Speaking of duels, Felix and Petra's is interrupted by the arrival of Saki and Hilda.

"Hello, mind if we cut in?" Hilda grins innocently.

"I do not mind, yet Felix may not be willing to end our fight so soon." Petra says as she turns to him.

"You were a worthy opponent for the time being, perhaps we'll get the chance to finish our fight one day. If the professor is persuasive enough." His statement confuses her for a bit before she leaves to fight Hilda.

"After so much time training… it's finally time for me to successfully kick your ass! My loss to you has motivated me for a long time, so let's finish this, Felix!" Saki glares at the swordsman, fired up.

Felix calmly readied his blade, lowering his eyebrows in anticipation.

Not another word was spoken between the two.

It was a clash worthy of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion.

Saki Nikaido VS. Felix Hugo Fraldarius

END OF CHAPTER 24

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x4

**The conclusion of the battle, next time. Next chapter features Felix vs Saki, Lily vs Lysithea, Ai vs Sakura, Dimitri vs Edelgard vs Claude, and much more! Wish these matches could be seen on PPV.**


	26. Chapter 25: Eagle, Lion, Deer Part 2

Third-Person POV

Weapons ready, eyes locked, both of them prepared and focused.

Felix Hugo Fraldarius.

Saki Nikaido.

They knew this day would come, a rematch they anticipated since their first encounter.

The biker gang leader turned zombie idol and the dark blue-haired swordsman charged at each other, this was different than any normal sparring session between them. They knew each other so well, to the point where the first minute had no hits landing on either side. Fists with gauntlets flew, as well as the slashes of a fine, sharp blade. Neither one took a breath just yet.

"HAA!" Saki attacked with a haymaker, but Felix avoided it narrowly.

"Tch…" Felix glared as he readied his steel sword.

Jabbing it forward, it only manages to leave a cut in Saki's uniform and an opening for her to land a kick to the gut. First hit landed goes to Saki.

Felix stands back up after recovering, and he surprisingly gives her a smirk, which she reciprocates, "You've improved. Show me more, Nikaido".

"With pleasure Fraldarius." Saki dashed towards the swordsman.

Her gauntlets clashed with his sword a couple times before Felix cut her sleeve.

"This is just how I thought it would be, brawling at our best!" The blonde exclaims as she throws another punch that misses.

"It is a bit enjoyable, especially with there being only one opponent to focus on this time. Surprises me that no others have interrupted just yet." Felix says as he clutches his sword and goes for another attack.

Speaking of their fellow students, they are quite busy to say the least.

"Grow up!"

"You first!"

Lysithea and Lily had been mad at each other ever since they encountered one another on the battlefield. Fire and dark magic flew back and forth between these two youths, like an increasingly more terrifying snowball fight. Leonie and Ignatz were unfortunate victims of this battle, when a rogue Miasma Δ spell knocked them both out of the running.

"Yeesh, I'm staying away from that mess…" Claude tells Raphael who nods in agreement.

The Golden Deer Leader looks over and sees Ashe atop his Wyvern, fending off soldiers from both the Alliance and Empire. Mercedes decided to move towards the central hill to help out Ai & Dedue, so Junko was the only healer near him.

Claude grins and gestures for Raphael to follow him over to Ashe & Junko's location. The silver haired young man was winded, but the foes just kept coming. And things just kept getting worse as the two Golden Deers arrived.

"Nothing personal Ashe, we're just aiming for the prize!" Claude shouts as he fires away at the poor Wyvern Rider.

"Eeek!" Junko lets out as she narrowly avoids Raphael's axe.

"Whoops, sorry, didn't see you there! Almost took your head off…" The Leicester Giant rubbed the back of his head.

Ashe tries to shoot an arrow himself back at Claude, but he is outmatched by the house leader easily.

"I guess it's over… ouch…" He says as Junko runs up to him and takes him off the field.

"You did your best out there, the number of troops was just too overwhelming…" She reassures him as the two of them smile at each other.

"Thanks for not hurting Junko too bad Raph, now let's go get some more eliminations, pal!" Claude tells his classmate as the two of them press forward.

—

"Bolaganone! Fire! Fire!" Lily cries out the names of her spells as Lysithea manages to learn her attack pattern.

The white-haired mage suddenly trips over a patch of grass and falls backwards to the ground.

"Hee hee! Lily's got you! Fi—eh?" Lily tried activating her Fire tome, but she had ended up exhausting it.

"Swarm Z!" Lysithea uses her other spell to discombobulate the young star child, having her end up on the ground.

"It's over. But… my apologies for acting so tough on you. Before you came along I was the youngest one enrolled here, and even now I still get treated as if I were a child. I've seen you around the monastery and having someone so young, not willing to grow up, bothered me. " Lysithea held her hand out for Lily to grab.

And she took it, "It's okay, Lily just likes being twelve forever, but nobody likes meanies teasing because we're younger! Wanna eat some cake later? I love the cake here!"

"Twelve forever?" Lysithea thinks to herself as Lly tilts her head, "Oh, it's nothing, sure let's indulge when this is all over. And my class has won."

"Yeah! Wait, _your _class?!" Lily's joy turned to confusion in response as Lysithea walked off.

It's been over two minutes of fighting and neither Saki or Felix let up. Unnamed soldiers from all sides were distracted by the sheer intensity of the rivals, to the point where they ended up eliminated quickly.

A strike with a gauntlet.

A slash of a sword.

The attacks no longer missed, but blocks were put up in their place.

"HAAAA!" Both cried out, but the two attacks clashed and they staggered back.

No advantage in sight for them, but they pressed on. Another minute passes, and the two of them finally start to show their exhaustion, sweat rolling down their faces as they take deeper breaths.

As they both were doing this, Saki's eyes suddenly lit up (not literally) when she saw Felix preparing his next attack. She then decides to loosen the grip on her gauntlets a bit.

"Tah!" Felix grunts as he stabs forward into Saki's steel gauntlets.

The blonde then uses her strength to disarm Felix, sending both the gauntlets and sword onto the ground. She then quickly switches to her axe and knocks down her opponent while he was vulnerable.

The swordsman is knocked to the ground, and he sits up to see the biker gang leader standing tall in front of him.

"I yield. I hate to say it, but congratulations on your first victory against 've impressed me a lot Nikaido. Just know that our next duel is the one that truly decides it." Felix picks himself off the ground, Saki all smiles as she claims her win against the opponent that eluded her since their first fight.

"HELL YES!" She raised her fist in the air as her rival looked back at her and smirks, satisfied to have found a worthy combatant that bested him.

—

"Dedue! Hold out for as long as you can! I need my aim to be accurate enough!" Ai, still at the central hill's ballista, tells her classmate. She sees Hilda and Petra still fighting and she fires towards the former. Hilda barely dodges out of the way, frightened about the surprise attack.

"Ahh! Why now?!" She complains as Petra takes advantage of the distraction and eliminates Hilda.

"Hm… I am having curiosity." Petra says as she sees Ai turn to face the approaching Black Eagles. She stares for a bt before going to regroup with the other Eagles.

Hubert uses Mire B on Dedue, who is trying his damndest to keep his guard up and defend the central tower. The Duscur heavy is winded, but he's getting support from Mercedes and her healing.

"Sakura, do you mind taking down his support?" Hubert asked her who lightly nods, worried about her chances.

"T-take this!" She says as she throws her lance downwards and it knocks down Mercie, "Oof!".

"Mercedes!" Ai calls out to her classmate.

Mercie slowly gets up and dusts herself off, "I-I'm fine Ai dear, now's your chance!"

Ai gasps and sees Sakura's pegasus in sight and she manages to down her, forcing her to take up ground combat.

"Ack!" Sakura says as she grabs her lance and stands up and rushes to Hubert.

The dark mage stops attacking for a second when Sakura arrives, but then switches his attention to Ai, who he uses Miasma Δ on while Dedue was focused on him, "No!" the latter calls out as the flower idol is nowhere to be seen.

—

Byleth, Dimitri, and their two adjustants were at the farthest side of the field.

To their right, Edelgard, Dorothea, Petra.

To their left, Claude, Raphael, Lysithea.

"Oh no…" Bernadetta shuddered as she held up her bow in defense.

"Professor? It's your command…" The Prince of Faerghus said to his teacher.

The teal-haired Ashen Demon raised the Sword of the Creator, and pointed towards the middle of them, instructing them to take on both sides. Dimitri and Marianne went for the Eagles, while Bernadetta and Byleth went for the Deer. This was quite the chaotic confrontation between the house leaders.

Dimitri, with his strength and skill, defended against Petra's slashes, and fought back against her. Dorothea opened fire from behind with Thunder, but Marianne was there to respond with Blizzard.

"Much appreciated!" Dimitri told his ally who nodded in response before they continued fighting.

"Cover me, Bernie!" Byleth told his purple haired student as he swung his blade and the range manages to take out Raphael.

"Agh, the Professor's really strong, maybe I could be even better if I trained with him!" The big guy walked off to join the crowd, going out smiling.

"His strength is remarkable, hm…" Lysithea ponders before heading in to test his skills.

The remaining students left from each class include: Edelgard, Petra, Dorothea, Hubert, and Sakura on the Black Eagles, Dimitri, Byleth, Marianne & Bernadetta, Dedue, Yuri, Balthus, Yugiri for the Blue Lions, Claude, Lysithea and Saki the remaining Golden Deer.

The latter was currently in a friendly tussle with Balthus near the center hill after her duel with Felix.

"Hey Balthus, finish this quickly, the others could use a little muscle!" Yuri along with Yugiri looked on at the brawl.

"Heh, don't worry, I'll knock him out in no time!" Saki yelled in response.

"Ha ha ha! Don't be so sure, I'm not giving up so easily! Especially after that fluke last time." Balthus guffawed as the two of them landed two punches on each other's cheeks.

Yuri shrugged as he and the courtesan dashed to help his teammates. Dimitri dodges another attack from Petra, but as he's about to go for Edelgard, he notices someone missing.

"Hold on, where is Ta—" He was immediately interrupted by a leaping Tae Yamada who bites onto his lance and won't let go, "Agh, what a bold strategy…"

"Hold up, Your Highness, I'm not letting this team lose on my watch." Yuri and Yugiri arrive to hold down the snarling zombie girl.

"Oh, you're no fun Yurikins…" Dorothea says as she prepares another Thunder.

However, Yugiri manages to incapacitate her as the Ashen Wolves leader loses his grip and chases after Tae. She quickly runs on all fours, but Yuri has enough speed to catch up, as well as his own magic.

"Nosferatu." He calmly states as he holds his hand out and Tae falls flat on the ground.

Smirking, he walks up to her to take her to the eliminated student crowd, but Tae reawakens and jumps atop him. "Well this will be more fun than I realized…" He said as he unsheathed his Rapier.

—

"Sakura, what are you waiting for? Capture the central hill." Hubert looked to his left to see Sakura, still in shock after that attack on her friend. Dedue, being taken out thirty seconds later.

"Ai... " She mutters as she walks up the wooden steps and sees Saki there to greet her.

"Oi, what's up Sakura?!" She loudly shouts to her friend, scratches all over from the battles she had already.

Balthus slowly walks off in shame after his unforeseen (and for our case unseen) loss. Though he does laugh it off, since it wasn't a shot at his King of Grappling title and more like a quick and friendly matchup.

"S-Saki? I have to fight you?!" The egghead hesitates as she struggles to hold her lance.

"Hey, under different circumstances I wouldn't, but I know you've gotten strong, so show me what you've got!" The blonde grips her gauntlets with pure intensity.

But emerging from the smoke, an arrow is fired and it catches Hubert's coat and pins him to the ground, preventing him from intervening and continuing to fight. Ai Mizuno walks up to her fellow Franchouchou members, calmly.

"You're okay!" Sakura is taken aback.

"Didn't doubt it for a second lightning rod. Now let's rumble…" Saki's eyes burn with intensity as Sakura grips her lance, and Ai switches to her broadsword.

On the other side of the battlefield, Byleth, alongside Bernadetta, is busy fighting against the physical and magical prowess of Petra and Lysithea.

While Dimitri, Edelgard, and Claude stood opposing each other.

Numbers 1, 2, & 3, of Saga's idol group Franchouchou, and the three future leaders of Fódlan. Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer. Two triple threat matches…. aside from killing and injury, NO HOLDS BARRED.

END OF CHAPTER 25

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x4 (no change)

**The end is finally approaching. Grab your popcorn folks, or Fódlan/Saga equivalent to popcorn. This is going to be good….**


	27. Chapter 26: Eagle, Lion, Deer Part 3

Third-Person POV

Franchouchou's main three members are locked in combat.

Sakura is defending against Saki's gauntlet strikes using her steel lance, she is struggling to hold back the biker chick until Ai cuts-in with her sword. She slashes at Saki, who takes the hit, then strikes back with a kick, knocking Ai back a fair distance.

"Oof…" Ai says as she stands up and sees Saki charging towards her.

"HYAAH!" The blonde yells as her axe collides with Ai's blade, making a loud clanging sound.

A power struggle then occurs, with Saki's strength winning out. This causes Ai to dodge sideways to the right and catch her breath. She switches to her bow and fires an arrow at Saki, but she grabs it with one hand and snaps it in two.

"Not bad Mizuno, but let's kick it up a notch. C'mon Sakura, join us already!" Saki yells to the egghead who makes an "eep" sound.

"What do I do? What do I d—(gulps)" She says to herself before psyching herself up and charging towards her fellow zombies.

Sakura's attempt at an attack misses both of them, and she ends up being dragged into another power struggle. Lance, axe, and sword are up against each other and this time it looks like they're all evenly matched. Sweat rolls down the faces of the three girls as they continue to attack one after the other.

"It's surprising that out of all the students left on the field, we were the ones to survive this long. This must be a sign of how much we've grown." Ai brings up while taking some deep breaths.

"Yeah, I never would have imagined I'd be here instead of on stage months ago!" Sakura wipes the seat off her forehead.

"We're definitely going to be able to save Saga now! Stage or battlefield, Franchouchou's coming for y'all!" Saki cracks her knuckles and gets into another battle ready position.

Ai engages Sakura first, and uses footwork similar to some used in fencing when jabbing with her sword. She is the most skilled in the group when it comes to dancing and coordination after all. And using that enhanced sight and hearing, she notices Saki approaching from behind instantly and dodges out of the way. Thus making Saki crash into Sakura.

"So it is time to cross blades… no matter, do not hold back you two!" Dimitri says to both Edelgard and Claude as their fight commences.

The battle mainly consists of Edelgard and Dimitri duking it out, while Claude fires his shots from a good distance. The Black Eagles and Blue Lions leaders however don't take too kindly to his tactics and attempt to interrupt his arrows a few times as well. Marianne was still there, since she was Dimitri's adjutant, but mainly out of sight.

Dimitri swings his lance and Claude ducks under it before taking out a short axe, landing a hit on the prince.

"Just found out that I'm pretty skilled with these, who knew?" Claude snarked as he threw his short axe at Edelgard who bats it away.

"Hey, Princess! Heads up! There's a rat right by your Imperial feet…" Claude calls out, spooking the future empress.

"Such, childish tactics, Claude…" Dimitri shakes his head.

"Ha ha, sorry. I guess I'll win this fair and square then!" He says in response.

"Very well, stand and fight you two!" Edelgard tells them after regaining her composure.

The Imperial Princess goes right for Claude as revenge for that rat joke, and the latter is having trouble getting a shot in up close. Edelgard's handling of her steel axe is quite masterful, with her putting enough power into each time she swings it. Claude is left to constant dodging in order to avoid elimination and find a good spot to use his bow.

Thankfully for him, Dimitri steps in to take her off the Golden Deer leader's hands and the red and blue nobles continue to duke it out.

"I never imagined such a day would come to pass, the two of us locked in a conflict." Dimitri solemnly speaks to Edelgard.

"Well, if the Empire and the Kingdom go to war, we'll be able to fight as much as we please." Is her response.

Dimitri, not amused, answers back with, "I am very sorry, but that is not something to joke about. The thought of fighting you is troubling at best.".

"In that case, I wonder when you'll be able to stomach facing me in battle… Do you need a few moments?" She asks him and he shakes his head.

"No… only one." The prince makes his move and a duel has begun.

Meanwhile Claude sees how serious the two of them are, then begins to search for an opening on either of them. He looks for a few seconds and then finds the perfect opportunity, as well as the spot to aim. He pulls back the string, about to release the arrow…. And some dried squid plops next to him.

"What the—"

"RAAAGH!" Tae Yamada roars as she unintentionally crashes into the poor guy, eliminating him.

"Ha, my apologies Claude, but you did say something about it not mattering as long as you can pull off a win. A good thing I _borrowed_ something before we started the battle." Yuri smirks.

Kotaro then checks his front suit pocket and sees the dried squid is gone, "WHAT?!", he yells from the sidelines, making the eliminated students cringe.

"Take it easy, Tatsumi…" Lily rolls her eyes at him as she noms on some cake.

"Oh my, it is a shame to have it ended this way for Claude. With Tae being on top and him on the bottom…" Yugiri walks up next to Yuri.

The Ashen Wolves leader was exasperated, "Wow… I'm just not going to say what's wrong with that sentence.", he says as he holds down Tae who keeps on chewing on her food.

"Watch out, Professor! **GET BACK**!" Bernadetta warns her teacher as she shoots an arrow at Lysithea, who was about to shoot a spell he could not avoid.

"Thank you Bernie, now then… **NO HESITATION**!" Byleth unleashes a toned down Ruptured Heaven on both Lysithea and Petra, who he was in the middle of fighting with.

"Incredible… learning from a professor like you could work wonders for my skills!" The former utters as she accepts defeat.

"Yes, perhaps learning from him could give me great benefit. I would like to be requesting a class switch." Petra asked and he nodded.

"We'll be happy to welcome you both." He gives a small smile at them, which causes Bernadetta to stare at this rare moment for him. She really likes seeing this smile for some reason…

"Agh!" Sakura lets out as she falls to the grassy terrain.

She stands back up as Saki motions her to bring it, and Ai nods in her direction. Taking a deep breath…. And exhaling, the heart of Franchouchou lets loose. Spinning her lance like a flag twirler would, she lands a few hits on both of her friends/foes.

"HAAAAA!" Saki yells as she throws a punch that makes Sakura's head spin (literally).

Before continuing Sakura looks to see if anyone saw that, luckily no one did it seems, before letting out a sigh of relief and then a thrust towards Ai, knocking her down. She points her lance down towards her idol inspiration, who pushes the lance back and kicks back up, grabbing her sword.

"Looks like you are the most improved Sakura, compared to how you were in Remire Village moons ago." Ai compliments with a smile.

"Ha ha… thanks! It's because we had such a good teacher and classmates. Couldn't have gone that far without them." She replies, Saki and Ai nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, didn't expect 'Silent Treatment' to be so good at being a professor, plus it's great to have some fun with our new pals!" The biker chick says.

"Indeed. Even though we mustn't forget our mission to find that 'Staff of Fodra' and return home, we need to remember to thank everyone for the time we spent here as students. We owe a lot to the academy." Ai informs them.

"For now… let's show them what we learned in class and on missions!" Saki raises her fist in the air and the other two follow before they keep on fighting.

"Dimitri!" Marianne heals him up so that he could keep fighting without tire.

"Many thanks Marianne, you really are a lucky charm…" He thanks her, causing her to blush due to that last statement.

"N-no, I'm not…" She softly whispered as she tried to hide her red cheeks.

"You are. Do not put yourself so low, I meant every word I told you." Dimitri patted her on the back before continuing to fight Edelgard.

"Dimitri, may the goddess grant you victory…" Was her last words as she exited the battlefield, her work done.

Sakura calms herself and waits, Ai and Saki in the midst of a quick striking and dodging sequence. She thinks of when they discovered the staff, fighting her first battle, as well as the many missions she went on alongside her fellow Blue Lions. Tightening the bow on her head, and the grip on her lance, the girl makes her move.

Charging in when Saki dodges backwards, Sakura hits her in the stomach with the side of her steel lance and finally takes her out. After rough fights against the likes of Caspar, Felix, and Balthus, Saki finally fell backwards in defeat.

"Good one… egghead." She utters.

The Golden Deer have lost.

"Huff… huff…" Sakura catches her breath and she looks up to see an impressed Ai Mizuno. The reason why she wanted to become an idol in the first place.

She got up and gulped, not looking forward to this, but this was important. To truly prove that she has what it takes to survive in Fódlan, she had to win for her team. Bring victory to the Black Eagles, even if she was in a different class.

The two of them did not speak another word and just went all out. The crowd of students and professors did not know where to look. The Black Eagles and Blue Lions were putting on a show, a spectacle that could rival the original Battle of the Eagle and Lion. None of the onlookers picked a side, they just wanted to see a good match and they got two, with Ai vs Sakura & Dimitri vs Edelgard.

But it had to end at some point.

"**THIS BATTLE IS OVER**!" Dimitri shouts with one final thrust of his lance taking down Edelgard.

Ai jumps backward to avoid Sakura's attack and aims with one final arrow, "**CUT-IN**!", she yells as Sakura is hit.

"That is the end of this year's Battle of the Eagle and Lion! And the winners are… The Blue Lions!" Seteth announces.

Cheers rang out for all three of the Officers Academy's three houses. Each student gave it their all out there, using what they had learned from every lesson and from the bonds they've forged with each other as well. To celebrate a job well done, a gathering in the dining hall commenced. Borders were brought down, new friendships were created, and food was gobbled down.

Ingrid, Raphael, and Tae gorged themselves on the grilled meat, with Ai sneakily taking some for herself.

Caspar and Saki held an arm wrestling match, with the latter starting to overpower him and Balthus looking to have a round with her.

Lily, Lysithea, and Annette all ate cake together as Mercedes brought them more.

Sylvain pushes Ashe towards Junko as he and Dorothea share a laugh at the two's awkwardness.

Yugiri and Yuri shared some tea with Constance, while Hapi munched on snacks.

Byleth takes a break from eating to gain some breathing room and finds Sakura staring out at the fishing pond, her bare feet in the water.

"You did quite well." He told her and she nodded slightly.

"Yeah… but it wasn't enough to claim victory. Although I would have NO chance against Dimitri if I had won ha ha..." Sakura laughed a little before looking back down.

"Give it time. Continuing to hone your flight and lance skills could prove beneficial in the future. Despite being on the other team, I have to admit that I rooted for you." He sat right next to her.

"Really? T-thanks By— I mean Professor!" She stumbled on her words a bit.

"Byleth is fine, we did meet before you enrolled in the Academy."

"I guess so, still grateful for you and Captain Jeralt for taking us in as well as teaching all of us… hm?" She sees the smile on Byleth's face that came back from earlier, "That smile looks great on you!"

"Thank you. Well, we should be getting back before they start to worry. Put your shoes back on." Byleth said standing back up.

"Yeah, we should. Thanks for the compliments, and sorry for choosing not to fight with you guys." Sakura bows towards him.

"No matter which side you had fought for, we'll always be happy to have you as a Blue Lion….. Also you should pull your socks up higher." Byleth points to her green zombie feet, must not have put enough makeup on.

Sakura embarrassingly pulls them up quickly and the two of them head back inside greeted by Dimitri with Marianne by his side.

After watching this go down, Kotaro Tatsumi smiles, seemingly proud of what his zombie idols have accomplished.

"Oh hey, can't believe I forgot to tell you what I learned about the staff." Linhardt walks up from behind him.

"You had more information, for how long?!" Tatsumi responds loudly.

"Geez, for about a month, sorry…"

"Information about what?"

The two of them heard a voice walk up from behind them. When she steps into the light, Linhardt gives a heavy sigh.

"I also saw the color of Sakura's legs change, so tell me… Who really are you people?" Edelgard demands.

END OF CHAPTER 26

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" count x4 (no change)

**One year ago, on October 14, 2019… Three Houses Saga debuted on . 26 chapters of Zombie Land Saga's idols entering the world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Thank you all for the support you've given this story, through reviews/comments, follows and favorites, kudos, bookmarks, and subscriptions, etc. The series will continue on until it reaches the end of the Blue Lions route, and I hope you all will join us. And always remember to comment if you can. - RenegadeBraveheart**


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